llDeroes  of  tbe  IRcformation 

EDITED    BY 

Samuel  A>acaules  ^acds.^n 

PROFESSOR   OF  CHURCH    HISTORY,    NEW    YORK 
UNIVERSITY 


Aiatpco-ctf  ;^apta'|i.aT<ai',  to  Si  aurb  irfcufia. 

CJVeRSITIES  OF  QIFTS,    lUT  THE  SAME  SPIRIT. 


HULDREICH  ZWINGLI 


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&^ 

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or 


HULDRICH   ZWINGLI. 
FROM    A    WEZZOTINT    BY    R.    HOUSTON. 


HULDREICH    ZWINGLI 

THE   REFORMER  OF  GERMAN 
SWITZERLAND 

1-484-1531 


BY 

SAMUEL  MACAULEY  JACKSON 

ii 

PROFESSOR   OF   CHURCH    HISTORY,   NEW    YORK    UNIVERSITY 


TOGETHER  WITH 

An  Historical  Survey  of  Switzerland  before  the  Reforma- 
tion, by  Prof.  John  Martin  Vincent,  Johns  Hopkins 
University  ;  and  a  Chapter  on  Zvvingli's  Theology  by 
Prof.  Frank  Hugh  Foster,  University  of  California 


SECOND  EDITION,  REVISED 


Cx.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

TLbe  Ifjnichcrbochcr  press 

1903 


Il6 


Copyright,  iqoo 

BV 

SAMUEL  ^rACAULEV  JACKSON 


Ubc  tJnicheibochcr  iPreae,  IHew  li'ort? 


TO 

MY    BROTHER 


PREFACE 

IN  1872  or  1873,  the  author,  who  was  at  that  time 
a  student  in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  in 
New  York  City,  heard  that  most  inspiring  teacher. 
Professor  Roswell  Dvvight  Hitchcock,  say,  in  passing, 
while  lecturing  on  Church  history,  that  Zwingli's 
theory  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  "  a  low,  thin  ' 
view,"  and  that  Zwingli  himself  was  "  a  much- 
neglected  man."  These  remarks  turned  the 
author's  attention  to  Zwingli,  and  ever  since  he 
has  been  interested  in  him. 

In  1895,  the  author  projected  the  series  upon 
"  The  Heroes  of  the  Reformation."  It  was  taken 
up  by  the  present  publishers  in  January,  1896.  The 
author  began  this  book  on  the  loth  of  February  of 
that  year,  but  composition  upon  it  has  been  fre- 
quently interrupted  and  the  manuscript  laid  aside 
for  months  at  a  time.  Its  sources  are  fully  revealed 
in  the  references  and  notes.  Of  these  sources  the 
chief  have  been  the  letters  by  and  to  Zwingli,  filling 
two  volumes  in  the  modern  edition  of  his  complete 
works;  the  contemporary  history  of  the  Reformation  ' 
in  Switzerland  by  Heinrich  Bullinger,  the  successor 
of  Zwingli;  the  Acts  of  the  Council  of  the  City  of 
Zurich  during  the  period  covered  by  the  volume, 
and  the  similar  collection  of  the  Acts  of  the  Councils 


VI 


Preface 


in  other  cities  for  the  same  period.  These  scource- 
studies  have  been  made  independently  but  under  the 
direction  of  the  three  biographies  of  ZwingH  worthy 
of  the  name  and  of  their  theme,  viz.,  those  by  Raget 
Christoffel  (Elberfeld,  1857;  excellent  EngHsh  trans- 
lation by  John  Cochran,  Edinburgh,  1858),  by  Johann 
Caspar  Moerikofer  (Leipzig,  1867-69,  two  volumes), 
and  by  Rudolf  Staehelin  (Basel,  1895-97,  two  vol- 
umes); and  to  these  works  the  author  would  here 
pay  his  tribute  of  profound  respect.  He  could  not 
have  written  this  book  without  them.  Like  Staehe- 
lin he  has  built  his  book  upon  the  Zwingli  corre- 
spondence, but  he  had  adopted  this  plan  before  he 
began  to  read  Staehelin.  Much  help  has  also  been 
afforded  by  the  monographs  quoted  in  the  notes, 
and  especially  by  Zwingliana  (Zurich,  1897,  sqq.'), 
the  semi-yearly  organ  of  Zwingli  studies,  started 
and  ably  carried  on  by  the  enthusiastic  and  thor- 
oughly competent  Zwingli  student,  Professor  Egli, 
of  the  University  of  Zurich. 

This  book  is  a  biography  of  Zwingli.  The  text  is 
intended  to  give  to  the  general  reader  the  principal 
facts  of  his  life,  while  the  numerous  notes,  excursus, 
and  references  are  intended  for  special  students. 
It  is  also  as  much  as  possible  matter  of  fact.  Few 
statements  in  it  are  in  the  least  conjectural,  and 
nothing  has  been  put  into  it  in  the  way  of  rhetoric 
or  to  occupy  space.  The  author  has  tried  to  be  im- 
partial and  certainly  has  avoided  eulogy.  The 
book  is  also  restricted  to  the  work  of  its  subject,  and 
is  not  a  history  of  the  Reformation  in  Zurich — much 
less  in  Switzerland  —  except  so  far  as  Zwingli  was 


Preface  vii 

directly  active  in  it.  Moreover,  it  is  not  an  exposi- 
tion of  Zwingli's  theology,  philosophy,  and  ethics, 
for  almost  all  that  the  volume  contains  on  those 
themes  is  found  in  Professor  Foster's  chapter  and  in 
the  Appendix. 

When  the  volume  was  begun  the  author  had  the 
design  to  publish  a  complete  English  translation  of 
the  writings  of  Zwingli.  To  this  end  he  had  a  com- 
plete translation  made  of  the  Zwingli  correspond- 
ence and  of  a  number  of  the  treatises.  It  is  not  now 
at  all  likely  that  the  project  spoken  of  will  be  carried 
out,  except  in  a  partial  way,  but  the  author  is  able, 
through  the  generosity  of  his  publishers,  to  include 
in  this  volume  Zwingli's  sermon  which  was  the  first 
printed  defence  of  the  Reformation  already  begun 
in  Zurich,  translated  by  Prof.  Lawrence  A.  McLouth 
of  the  New  York  University;  and  Zwingli's  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  the  last  in  the  translation  of  the 
Rev.  Prof.  Dr.  H.  E.  Jacobs,  Dean  of  the  Lutheran 
Theological  Seminary,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  by  his 
kind  permission.  In  this  connection  the  author 
calls  attention  to  Professor  Reichenbach's  trans- 
lation of  Zwingli's  "  Christian  Education  of  Youth  " 
(Collegeville,  Pa.,  Thompson  Brothers,  1899),  and 
to  the  announcement  that  the  Department  of  His- 
tory of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  will  pub- 
lish shortly  after  the  appearance  of  this  volume 
several  treatises  of  Zwingli's  which  the  author  had 
translated  for  his  projected  complete  translation 
mentioned  above,  namely: 

I.  From  the  Zurich  German,  by  Lawrence  A. 
McLouth,    Professor    of    German    in    New    York 


viii  Preface 

University:  (i)  the  Acts  of  the  First  Zurich  Dispu- 
tation, January  23,  1523,  between  representatives 
of  the  Bishop  of  Constance,  the  local  clergy,  and 
Zwingli,  wherein  the  proposed  Reformation  was  first 
set  forth,  attacked,  and  defended;  (2)  Zwingli's 
Marriage  Ordinance  of  May  10,  1525. 

II.  From  the  Latin  by  Henry  Preble  :  (i) 
Zwingli's  account  of  the  visit  of  the  delegation 
from  the  Bishop  of  Constance  on  April  7-9,  1522, 
to  investigate  the  rising  reform  movement  in  Zurich  ; 
(2)  The  petition  of  certain  of  the  Zurich  clergy, 
written  by  Zwingli,  to  the  Bishop  of  Constance,  to 
be  allowed 'freely  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  more 
especially  to  marry  (1522);  (3)  Zwingli's  "Refuta- 
tion of  the  tricks  of  the  Catabaptists  "  (1527). 

To  these  he  hopes  in  the  near  future  to  add 
several  others,  and  the  translation  from  the  Latin 
he  made  himself  of  the  life  of  Zwingli  by  Oswald 
Myconius,  Zwingli's  bosom  friend  and  ardent  ad- 
mirer. It  is  interesting  but  defective,  and  its  state- 
ments need  to  be  controlled  by  later  researches. 

In  order  to  get  local  colouring  and  photographs 
and  to  see  Zwingli  manuscripts,  the  author  made,  in 
the  summer  of  1897,  a  special  journey  to  all  the 
places  in  Switzerland  which  are  associated  with 
Zwingli,  and  also  to  Marburg  in  Hesse.  An  account 
of  this  journey  appeared  in  the  New  York  Evangelist, 
for  June  9,  1898. 

The  four  years  of  intimate  association  with  Zwingli 
which  the  author  has  enjoyed  have  greatly  increased 
his  respect  for  the  man.  But  though  Zwingli  has 
won  his  high  regard,  he  is  unable,  through  his  own 


Preface  ix 

inability,  perhaps,  to  appreciate  greatness,  to  value 
him  so  highly  as  some  do.  He  does  not  put  him  in 
the  front  rank  of  the  great  men  of  the  world,  nor 
in  Reformation  history  on  equality  with  Luther  and 
Calvin.  His  defects  are  patent ;  his  literary  work 
is  so  frequently  marred  by  haste  that  while  it  served 
its  immediate  ends  well  it  has  less  interest  for  the 
after  world ;  in  his  treatment  of  the  Baptists  he  fol- 
lowed only  conventional  lines  and  was  prejudiced 
and  cruel  —  the  author  is  himself  not  a  Baptist  —  his 
jealousy  of  Luther  was  a  mark  of  weakness ;  in  the 
latter  part  of  his  life  he  was  more  a  politician  than 
he  should  have  been.  But  on  the  other  hand  he 
led  the  Reformation  movement  in  German  Swit- 
zerland, and  spent  his  da}s  in  the  service  of  his 
conception  of  the  truth.  He  was  a  generous,  self-  • 
sacrificing,  lovable  character,  whose  politico-religious 
writings  reveal  the  stalwart  Swiss  who  could  not  be 
bribed  to  silence,  the  man  who  saw  clearly  the  cause' 
of  his  country's  decline,  but  who  loved  his  country 
in  spite  of  all  her  faults  with  a  passionate  devotion, 
and  for  her  sake  laid  down  his  life.  It  is  as  a  man, 
as  an  indefatigable  worker,  as  a  broad-minded 
scholar,  as  an  approved  player  of  a  large  part  on  a 
small  stage,  that  the  author  admires  Zwingli  and 
commends  him  to  others.  Whether  he  was  right  in 
his  theology  the  author  does  not  here  discuss;  nor 
is  he  at  all  concerned  to  expound  and  defend  his 
distinctive  teachings.  But  he  believes  that  if  the 
four  great  continental  Reformers — Luther,  Melanch- 
thon,  Zwingli,  and  Calvin — should  appear  to-day, 
the  one  among  them  who  would  have  to  do  least 


X  Preface 

to  adapt  himself  to  our  modern  ways  of  thought, 
and  the  man  who  would  soonest  gather  an  enthusi- 
astic following,  would  be  Huldreich  Zwingli,  the 
Reformer  of  German  Switzerland. 

It  remains  now  to  acknowledge  with  hearty  thanks 
the  co-operation  of  a  number  of  persons  among 
whose  friends  the  author  would  fain  ask  to  be 
numbered.  First  of  all  he  must  give  his  thanks  to 
the  authors  of  the  introductory  and  supplementary 
chapters.  Professors  Vincent  and  Foster  respect- 
ively, both  of  whom  have  greatly  increased  the 
value  of  the  volume  by  their  labours.  Professor 
Vincent  has  won  a  reputation  as  a  student  of  Swiss 
history,  and  he  embodies  in  his  chapter  much  original 
research.  Professor  Foster  studied  his  theme  afresh 
for  the  book,  and  gives  here  his  maturest  thought 
upon  it.  Next  he  would  thank  Mr.  Henry  Preble 
of  New  York  City  and  Prof.  George  William  Gil- 
more  of  Bangor  Theological  Seminary,  and  his  col- 
league. Prof.  Lawrence  A.  McLouth  of  the  New  York 
University,  for  the  translations  which  have  been 
already  mentioned  in  this  Preface.  He  considers 
himself  particularly  fortunate  in  securing  such  su- 
perior scholars  to  join  him  in  these  Zwingli  studies, 
and  he  adds  that  those  who  will  take  the  pains  to 
compare  these  translations  with  the  originals  will  be 
impressed  with  their  fidelity  and  liveliness.  He 
thanks  also  Rev.  Prof.  Dr.  Henry  E.  Jacobs  for  per- 
mission to  reprint  his  translation  of  Zwingli's  Con- 
fession of  Faith  ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  Isaac  Good,  of 
Reading,  Pennsylvania,  the  historian  of  the  German 
Reformed  Church,  for  the  loan   of  several   photo- 


Preface  xi 

graphs,  from  his  large  collection,  for  illustration  of 
this  volume;  Hermann  Escher,  Ph.D.,  City  Librar- 
ian of  Zurich,  for  permission  to  have  two  pages  of 
Zvvingli's  manuscript  copy  of  the  Pauline  Epistles 
photographed,  and  for  information  upon  some  points 
utilised  in  this  volume  ;  Prof.  Emil  Egli,  Ph.D., 
D.D,,  of  the  theological  faculty  of  the  University  of 
Zurich,  for  permission  to  reproduce  the  plan  of  the 
battle  of  Cappel  from  his  monograph  upon  it,  and  to 
the  publishers  for  their  permission  also;  Rev.  Charles 
Ripley  Gillett,  D.D.,  L.H.D.,  Librarian  of  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York  City,  and 
Judge  Henry  W.  Bookstaver,  of  the  same  city,  for 
the  loan  of  books;  and  Rev,  Nathaniel  Weiss,  the 
deeply  learned  Secretary  of  the  French  Protestant 
Society  in  Paris,  for  the  gift  of  several  Zwingli 
pamphlets.  He  would  also  make  his  general  ac- 
knowledgments to  those  who  have  expressed  interest 
in  his  work,  and  assure  them  that  the  shortcomings 
of  this  volume  are  not  due  to  any  shirking  of  work 
nor  curtailing  of  expenditure  of  time,  money,  and 
thought  to  find  out  the  facts.  The  author  trusts 
that  this  attempt  to  present  the  life  and  work  of 
Zwingli  will  do  something  to  rescue  him  from  the 
neglect  into  which  he  has  fallen,  and  bring  him  into 
greater  prominence. 

Samuel  Macauley  Jackson. 

New  York  City, 

December  15,  1900. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Preface         v 

Some   Indispensable   Aids    to    the    Study   of 

ZwiNGLi ,     xvii 

Introductory  Chapter  by  J.  M.  Vincent:  An 

Historical  Survey 3 

CHAPTER  I. 
Childhood  and  Youth,     1484-1506  ...      49 
Excursus  on  Zwinglt's  Parents,  Uncles,  Broth- 
ers, and  Sisters      ......       60 

CHAPTER  II. 

At  Glarus.     1506-1516 68 

Excursus  on  Zwinglt's  Correspondence  in  Gen- 
eral, afid  on  that  of  the  Glarean  Period  in 
Particular    .         .         .         .         .         .         •       9' 

CHAPTER  III. 
At  Einsiedeln.     1516-1518  ....       94 

Excursus  on  ZwinglVs  Papal  Pension        .         .114 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Opening  Year  in  Zurich.     1519        .        .        .     117 
Excursus  :  I.  On  ZwingW s  Autographic  Paul- 
inus,  i.  e.,  Self-made  Transcript  of  the  Paul- 
ine Epistles 135 


xiv  Contents 

PAGE 

//.  On  ZwinglV  s  Preaching  against  the  Pen- 
sioners and  Pensions      .         .         .         .         .136 

///.  On  the  Allusions  to  Luther  in  the  Zwingli 
Correspotidence  of  i^ig  .         .         .         .139 

CHAPTER  V. 

Preparing  for  the  Reformation.     1520-1521  .     144 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Reformation  Begins.     1522        .        .        .     158 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Reformation   Defended  (the  First  Dis- 
putation).    1523 179 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The   Reformation   Established  (the   Second 

Disputation).     1523-1525     ....     199 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Gerold    Meyer    von    Knonau,    Hutten,    and 

Erasmus.     1523 211 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Reformation  in  Zurich  Completed  (Mass 

Abolished),     1524 222 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Public  Marriage  and  Letters  of  1524  .        .     231 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Inner  Course   of  the  Zurich  Reforma- 
tion.    1522-1530 238 


Contents  ■  xv 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

PAGB 

The  Final  Stage  of  the  Zwinglian  Reform- 
ation.    1524-1529 266 

chapter  XIV. 

The  First  Cappel  War  and  the  Colloquy  of 

Marburg.     1529 299 

CHAPTER  XV. 

ZwiNGLi's  Political  Activity  in   his  Closing 

Years.     1529-1531  ....  323 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life.     1531        .     336 

Supplementary  Chapter  by  F.  H.  Foster  : 
Zwingli's  Theology,  Philosophy,  and 
Ethics 365 

Appendix,     i.  On  the  Selection  of  Foods     .     404 
2.  Zwingli's  Confession  of  Faith,     452 

Index 485 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

HULDREICH  zwiNGLi  .         .         .        Frontispiece 

From  a  painting 
SCHOOL   SIGN 2fi 

From  a  photograph. 

ZWINGLI'S   BIRTHPLACE,    WILDHAUS  .  .  .  -SO 

From  a  photograph. 

VIEW    OF    WESEN,    WHERE    ZWINGLl's    BOYHOOD    WAS 

SPENT 54 

From  a  photograph. 

VIEW    OF    THE    RHINE    AT    BASEL  .  .  .  .58 

From  a  photograph. 

WILDHAUS,     LOOKING      SOUTH,      SHOWING      VIEW     OF 

CHURFIRSTEN 64 

From  a  photograph. 

VIEW    OF    RAPPERSWYL    IN    ZWINGLl's   DAY  .  .      68 

From  an  old  print. 

GENERAL    VIEW   OF    GLARUS 76 

From  a  photograph. 

THE      CHURCH       AT      GLARUS       WHEREIN       ZWINGLI 

PREACHED  ........       88 

From  an  old  print. 

VIRGIN    AND    CHILD    IN    CHAPEL    AT    EINSIEDELN  .    I04 

From  Ringholz's  Eutsiedeln. 
EINSIEDELN, IIO 

From  a  contemporary  drawing, 
xvii 


xviii  Illustrations 

PAGE 

EINSIEDELN    CHAPEL    OF    THE    VIRGIN    AS    IN     ZWING- 

Ll's    DAY       .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .116 

From  Ringholz's  Einsiedeln. 

ZWINGLI'S   COMMUNION    CUP    AT    GLARUS  .  .  .    I20 

From  a  photograph. 

FAC-SIMILE  OF  TWO  PAGES  IN  ZWINGLl's  AUTO- 
GRAPHIC   PAULINUS 136 

From  a  photograph. 

OLD    ZURICH 162 

From  an  old  print. 

THE  GREAT  COUNCIL'S  HALL  AT  ZURICH,  WHERE 
THE  RELIGIOUS  DISPUTATIONS  OF  JAN.  29  AND 
OCT.     26,    1523,    WERE    HELD  ....    186 

From  an  old  print. 

THE   GREAT    MINSTER,    ZURICH.  ....    202 

From  a  photograph. 

THE    TAMINA    GORGE    IN    WHICH     BAD     PFAEFERS    IS 

LOCATED 216 

From  a  photograph. 


ZURICH    FROM    THE   QUAY    BRIDGE 

From  a  photograph 

BERN    CATHEDRAL       . 

From  a  photograph 


.    260 
.    280 


PRIEST  CONVERTED  AT  THE   PREACHING    OF   ZWINGLI 

IN    BERN       ........    286 

From  a  picture. 

FAC-SIMILE   OF  A  LETTER  BY  ZWINGLI,  SEPT.  3,   1528,    304 

MARBURG    CASTLE .  ......    3I2 

From  a  photograph. 

MARBURG    CASTLE,    INTERIOR.       THE    APARTMENT   IN 

WHICH    THE    COLLOQUY    WAS    HELD      .  .  .    322 

From  a  photograph. 


Illustrations  xix 

PAGE 

BASEL   CATHEDRAL 334 

From  a  photograph. 

ZWINGLI    DEPARTING     FOR    THE    BATTLE    OF    CAPPEL    354 
From  a  picture. 

PLAN  OF  THE  BATTLE  OF  CAPPEL,  OCT.    II,   153I  .    356 

From  the  plan  made  by  Prof.  Egli. 

ZWINGLl's     DAUGHTER     REGULA     AND     HIS     GRAND- 
DAUGHTER   360 

From  a  picture. 

ZWINGLl's  HELMET,  SWORD,  AND  SO-CALLED  BATTLE- 
AXE     380 

From  a  photograph. 

ZWINGLl's    MEMORIAL    ON    THE    SITE    OF    HIS   DEATH,    404 

From  a  photograph. 

THE     ZWINGLI     STATUE     IN     ZURICH,      UNVEILED     IN 

1885 452 

From  a  photograph. 

ST.  Peter's,  easel,  in  which  zwingli  once  held  a 

BENEFICE 47° 

From  a  photograph. 

MAP  OF   GERMAN  SWITZERLAND  .  End  of    Voluvie 

Specially  drawn  for  this  work. 


SOME  INDISPENSABLE  AIDS  TO  THE  STUDY 
OF  ZWINGLI 

FOR    A    FULL    BIBLIOGRAPHY    OF    ZWINGLI 

FiNSLER,  Georg.  Zunngli-Bibliographie.  Verzeichniss  der 
gedruckteu  Schriften  von  und  iiber  Ulrich  Zwingli. 
Zurich  :  Orell  Fiissli,  1897. 

FOR    ZWINGLl's    WORKS 

HuLDREiCH  ZwiNGLi's  Werke.  Erste  vollstdndige  Aus- 
gabe  diirch  Melchior  Schuler  und  Joh.  Schulthess. 
Zurich  :  Friedrich  Schulthess,  1828-61.  8  vols,  in 
11  parts,  with  Supplement,  8vo. 

The  German  writings  :  vol.  i.  (1522-  March,  1524),  1828,  pp. 
viii.,  668  ;  vol.  ii.,  ist  part  (1526- January,  1527),  1830,  iv.,  506  ; 
vol.  ii.,  2nd  part  (1522- July,  1526),  1822,  viii.,  531  ;  vol.  ii.,  3rd 
part  (1526-1531),  1841,  iv.,  III.  The  Latin  writings  :  vol.  iii. 
(1521-1526),  1832,  viii.,  677  ;  vol.  iv.  (1526  sqq^,  1841,  iv.,  307  ; 
vol.  v.,  1835,  iv.,  7S8  ;  vol.  vi.,  ist  part,  1836,  766;  vol.  vi., 
2nd  part,  1838,  340;  vol.  vii.,  1830,  viii.,  580;  vol.  viii.,  1842, 
iv.,  715.  Supplement  by  Georg 'Schulthess  u.  Caspar  Mar- 
thaler,  1861  (both  German  and  Latin),  iv.,  74. 

Vols,  v.,  vi.,  parts  I  and  2,  contain  Zwingli's  commentaries, 
which  are  on  Genesis,  Exodus,  Psalms,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah, 
Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  John,  Our  Lord's  Passion,  Resurrection, 
and  Ascension,  Romans,  i  and  2  Corinthians,  Philippians, 
Colossians,  i  and  2  Thessalonians,  James,  Hebrews,  and  i 
John,  all  in  Latin  ;  vols.  vii.  and  viii.  contain  the  correspond- 
ence. 

A  new  edition  of  the  Complete  Works  is  in  preparation.  It 
is  greatly  needed,  although  that  now  extant  is  worthy  of  the 
highest  praise.  It  superseded  the  two  previous  editions,  the 
first  by  Rudolf  Gualther,  Zwingli's  son-in-law,  Zurich  :  Fro- 
schauer,  1545,  4  vols.,  4to  ;  the  second  is  a  reprint,  Zurich  : 
Froschauer,  15S1,  4  vols.,  4I0. 


xxii  Huldreich  Zwingli 

FOR    ZWINGLl's    THEOLOGY 

M.  Huldreich  ZwingH's  sdmmtliche  Schriften  im  Auszuge. 
Zurich  :  Gessner,  1819.  2  vols.,  8vo  (pp.  xxv.,  555, 
640). 

Topically  arranged  by  thorough  Zwingli  students.  Very  con- 
venient to  find  out  exactly  what  Zwingli  said  upon  any  theme, 
which  the  ample  index  enables  one  to  do.  The  contents  are 
entirely  in  a  modern  German  translation  of  the  original  Latin 
and  old  Zurich  German.  A  reprint  with  references  to  the 
Schuler  and  Schulthess  edition  of  Zwingli  mentioned  above 
would  be  a  worthy  undertaking. 

Baur,  August.     Zwinglis  Theologie.     Ihr  Werden  und 
ihr  System.      Halle :     Max    Niemeyer,    1885-89.     2 
vols.,  8vo  (pp.  viii.,  543  ;  ix.,  864). 
The  classic  work  on  Zvvingli's  theology. 

FOR    ZWINGLl's    BIOGRAPHY 

Archil)  fiir  die  schweizerischen  Reformationsgeschichte. 
Herausgegeben  auf  Veranstaltung  des  schweizer- 
ischen Piusvereins  durch  die  Direction :  Graf 
Theodor  Scherer-Boccard,  Friedrich  Fiala,  Peter 
Bannwart.  Freiburg  im  Br.  :  Herder,  1868-75.  3 
vols.,  8vo  (pp.  Ixxvi.,  856  ;  vi.,  557  ;  vi.,  693). 

These  volumes  tell  the  story  from  the  Roman  Catholic  side. 

BuLLiNGER,  Heinrich.  Reformatiousgeschichte  nach  dem 
Autographoft.  Herausgegeben  auf  Veranstaltung  der 
vaterlandisch  -  historischen  Gesellschaft  in  Zurich 
von  J.  J.  Hottinger  und  H.  H.  Vogeli.  Frauenfeld  : 
Ch.  Beyel,  1838-40.  3  vols.,  8vo  (pp.  xix.,  446  ; 
viii.,  404;  viii.,  371). 

Bullinger  was  Zwingli's  successor  ;  an  honest  man  and  a  dili- 
gent collector  of  authentic  material.  He  wrote  in  the  Zurich 
Swiss  German,  which  has  to  be  learnt  by  those  familiar  only 
with  the  modern  High  German. 


Aids  to  the  Study  of  Zwingli    xxiil 

Christoffel,  Raget.  Huldreich  Zun?ig/i.  Leben  und 
ausgewdhlte  Schriften.  Elberfeld  :  R.  L.  Friderichs, 
1857.     8vo  (pp.  xiv.,  414  ;  writings,  351). 

The  same  translated  by  John  Cochran  :  Zwingli  ;  or.  The  Rise 
of  the  Reformation  in  Switzerland,  A  life  of  the  Reformer, 
•with  some  notices  of  his  time  and  contemporaries,  by  R.  Christof- 
fel, Pastor  of  the  Reformed  Church,  Wintersingen,  Switzer- 
land.    Edinburgh  :  T.  &  T.  Clark,  1858.     8vo  (pp.  vii.,  461). 

The  translation  omits  entirely  the  selected  writings  of  Zwing- 
li, but  otherwise  is  eminently  satisfactory.  The  book  itself  is 
topically  arranged,  and  is  entirely  reliable,  but  Christoffel 
gives  no  references,  and  so  only  one  familiar  with  the  writings 
of  Zwingli  knows  whence  his  numerous  and  judicious  quotations 
come.  Christoffel  made  the  transfusions  of  Zwingli's  treatises 
into  modern  High  German,  referred  to  below,  and  in  the  notes 
in  this  book. 

Egli,  Emil.  Actensammlung  zur  Geschichte  der  Ziircher 
Reformation  in  den  J^ahren  151Q-1533.  Mit  Unter- 
stiitzung  der  Behorden  von  Canton  und  Stadt  Zurich. 
Zurich  :  J,  Schabelitz,  1879.     8vo  (pp.  viii.,  947). 

It  is  a  pity  that  this  book  is  so  scarce.  It  should  be  reprinted. 
It  collects  innumerable  items  of  great  interest  to  the  Zwingli 
student  in  the  very  language  of  the  time,  and  presents  a  picture 
of  Zurich  life  of  all  kinds  by  contemporaries.  Its  composition 
was  a  gigantic  labour,  only  possible  to  youth,  enthusiasm,  and 
indefatigable,  intelligent  industry. 

MoERiKOFER,  JoHANN  CASPAR.  UlricJt  ZwingH  nach 
den  urkundlichen  Quellen.  Leipzig :  S.  Herzel, 
1867-69.     Two  parts,  8vo  (pp.  viii.,  351  ;  vi.,  525). 

The  author  knew  his  subject  thoroughly.  His  matter  is  ar- 
ranged in  short  chapters,  his  references  are  mostly  to  manuscript 
sources,  and  singularly  few  are  directly  to  Zwingli's  writings. 

MvcoNius,  Oswald.     Vita  Huldrici  Zwinglii. 

This  is  the  original  life,  very  interesting  but  a  mere  sketch. 
The  best  edition  is  in  the  Vitce  quatuor  Rcformatorum  [Luther 
by  Melanchthon,  Melanchthon  by  Camerarius,  Zwingli  by  Myco- 
nius,  and  Calvin  by  Beza],  edited  by  Neander,  Berlin,  1841,  pp.  14. 


xxiv  Huldreich  Zwingli 

Staehelin,  Rudolf.  Huldreich  Zwingli.  Sein  Leben 
und  IVirke/i,  ?iach  den  Qiiellen  dargestellt.  Basel  : 
Benno   Schwabe,    1895-97.      2  vols.,  8vo  (pp.  viii., 

535 ;  540). 

The  author,  who  died  in  1900,  was  for  many  years  Professor 
of  Theology  in  the  University  of  Basel  and  lectured  upon  Zwing- 
li. The  book  has  the  calm  strength  of  easy  mastery  of  its 
materials.  Only  one  thing  detracts  in  the  smallest  degree  from 
its  usefulness  to  students  of  Zwingli, — the  author  frequently  puts 
several  references  to  the  writings  of  Zwingli  together  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  page  in  such  a  way  that  they  are  hard  to  separate. 
If  these  references  could  be  assigned  to  the  places  where  they 
properly  belong,  then  Staehelin's  book  would  be  in  all  respects 
beyond  criticism.  As  it  is,  it  will  probably  retain  the  first  place 
among  lives  of  Zwingli  for  years  to  come — at  least  until  theappear- 
ance  of  that  new  edition  of  Zwingli's  Works  so  eagerly  awaited. 

Strickler,  Johann.  Actensammlung  zur  Schweizer- 
ischen  Reformationsgeschichte  in  den  J ahren  1^21- 
1332  im  Anschluss  an  die  gleichzeitigen  eidgenossischcti 
Abschiede.  Zurich  :  Meyer  u.  Zeller,  1878-84.  5 
vols.,  8vo. 

Vol.  i.  (1521-1528),  pp.  vii.,  724;  vol.  ii.  (1529-1530),  819; 
vol.  iii.  (1531,  Jan. -Oct.  11),  647  ;  vol.  iv.  (1531,  Oct.  II,- Dec, 
1532),  736;  vol.  V.  (1521-1532),  172,  with  bibliographical 
appendix,  Br. 

Here  are  presented  the  raw  materials  of  history  in  the  shape  of 
documents  of  all  descriptions,  chronologically  arranged,  as  in 
Egli.  The  labour  of  compiling  these  volumes  must  have  been 
immense. 

VoGELiN,  J.  K.,  Gerold  Meyer  von  Knonau,  and 
others.  Historisch-geographischer  Atlas  der  Schweiz 
in  /J  Bldttern.  Zurich  :  F.  Schulthess,  1868.  2nd 
ed.,  1870.     Folio. 

Vogelin,  Salomon.     Das  alte  Zurich.     Zurich  :  Orell, 

Fues  &  Co.,  1828.     New  ed.,  much  enlarged,  1878- 

90.      2  vols.,  8vo  (pp.  xvii.,  671  ;  viii.,  788). 

Invaluable,  but  so  peculiarly  arranged  that  consultation  is 
difficult. 


Aids  to  the  Study  of  Zwingli     xxv 


FOR    THE    LATEST    ZWINGLI    RESEARCHES 

Zwingliana.  Mittheilungen  zur  Geschichte  Zwinglis  und 
der  Reformation.  Herausgegeben  von  der  Vereinigung 
fiir  das  Zwinglimuseutn  in  Zurich.  Zurich,  1897  sqq. 
Two  parts  a  year,  edited  by  that  tireless  Zwingli  student  and 
scholar,  Professor  Emil  Egli.  Every  Zwingli  student  should 
subscribe  for  it. 


ZWINGLI    TRANSLATIONS 

Zeiigemdsse  Ausivahl  aus  Huldreich  Zwingli's  practischen 
Schriften.  Aus  detn  Alt-Deutschen  und Lateifiischen  in's 
Schrifideutsche  iibersetzt  und  tnit  den  nothwendigsten 
geschichtlichen  Erlduterungen  verse/ien,  von  R.  Chris- 
toffel,  V.D.M.  Zurich  :  Meyer  u.  Zeller,  1843-1846. 
12  parts. 


TITLE  OF  THE   SELECTION 

1.  Das  Wort  Gottes 

2.  Christliche  Einleitung 

3.  Der  Hirt 

4.  Das  Predigtamt 

5.  Die  Taufe 

6.  Das  Abendmahl 

7.  Eine  gottliche  Ermahnung  an  die  ehrsamen 

Eidgenossen  zu  Schwyz,  das  sie  sich  vor 
fremden  Herren  hiiten 

8.  Eine  ernstliche  Ermahnung  an  die  Eidgenos- 

sen, das  sie  sich  nicht  durch  die  List  ihrer 
Feinde  in  Schaden  bringen  lassen 

9.  Auslegen   und  Begrundung  der  Schlussreden 

oder  Artikel 

10.  Die  gottliche  und  die  menschliche  Gerechtig- 

keit 

11.  Wer    Ursache    gebe    zum   Aufruhr,    wer   die 

wahren  Anfriihrer  seien,  und  wie  man  zu 
christlicher  Einigkeit  und  Frieden  gelangen 
moge 

12.  Eine  kurze  Unterweisung  wie  man  die  Jugend 

in  guten  Sitten  und  Christlicher  Zucht 
erziehen  und  Lehren  solle 


PLACE   IN   THE 

COMPLETE 

WORKS 

I. 

I. 

I. 
II. 
II. 
II. 

53-82 
542-565 
632-668 
I,   304-336 
I,   230-303 
I,  427-468 

II.    2,    287-2C 


II. 

2,    315-326 

I. 

170-424 

I. 

426-45S 

II. 

I,    376-425 

IV. 

14^158 

xxvl  Huldreich  Zwingli 


Translations  of  more  or  less  complete  selections  into  modern 
high  German  are  given  by  R.  Christoffel  in  the  Appendix  to 
his  biography  as  mentioned  above,  and  by  C.  Sigwart  in  the  Ap- 
pendix to  his  sketch  of  Zwingli  (in  Die  vier  Reformatoren,  Stutt- 
gart, 1862),  pp.  336-406  ;  of  especial  interest  is  the  first  Bernese 
sermon  in  1528,  pp.  381-405  ;  the  second  Bernese  sermon  is 
translated  by  R.  Nesselmann  {JBuch  der  Predigten,  Elbing, 
1858),  pp.  689-692. 

In  old  English  translations  appeared  of  Zwingli's  "Confession 
of  Faith,"  two  translations  (Zurich,  March,  1543,  and  by 
Thomas  Cotsforde,  Geneva,  1555);  of  his  "  Pastor,"  London, 
1550  ;  of  his  "  Certain  Precepts,"  [which  is  the  same  as  "  The 
Christian  Education  of  Youth"  and  "  Eine  kurze  Unterweisung," 
mentioned  on  previous  pages]  London,  1548  ;  and  "  Short 
Pathway  to  the  Right  and  True  Understanding  of  the  Holy  and 
Sacred  Scriptures,"  \i.e..,  Zwingli's  sermon  on  the  Word  of  God,] 
Worcester,  1550,  translated  by  John  Veron. 

The  modern  English  translations  are  mentioned  in  the 
Preface  to  this  biography  and  in  the  notes. 


INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 

SWITZERLAND   AT   THE   BEGINNING  OF 
THE   SIXTEENTH    CENTURY 


By  JOHN  MARTIN  VINCENT,  Ph.D., 

Associate  Professor  in  Johns  Hopkins  University, 
Baltimore,  Maryland 


SWITZERLAND  AT  THE  BEGINNING 
OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY 

AT  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  travel- 
ler in  Switzerland  would  have  found  the  pre- 
vailing races  and  languages  firmly  established  in 
the  places  which  they  occupy  to-day,  but  the  people 
were  not  bound  together  by  the  same  ties  of  govern- 
ment. Germans  in  the  north  and  east,  French  in 
the  west  and  south  had  long  grown  fast  to  the  rocky 
soil,  but  they  were  grouped  in  small  independent 
States,  and  lived  under  most  diverse  political  condi- 
tions. For  a  long  time  there  had  existed  a  Swiss 
Confederation,  but  this  did  not  include  a  consider- 
able number  of  the  present  members.  Yet  it  must 
be  said  that  most  of  the  territory  now  known  as 
Switzerland  was  in  some  manner  attached  to  it  by 
friendly  alliances  and  by  ties  of  common  interest, 
so  that  in  relation  to  outside  nations  they  all  stood 
together.  The  distinguishing  feature  of  the  Con- 
federation was,  however,  the  feebleness  of  its  unity 
within  and  the  absolute  independence  of  the  separate 
States  in  matters  of  law  and  government.  This  fact 
had  much  to  do  with  the  history  of  the  Reformation 
in  Switzerland.  So  also  had  the  previous  history 
of  some  of  the  prominent  States  and  cities. 

3 


4  Huldreich  Zwingli 

The  Swiss  Confederation  began  in  a  union  of 
three  small  German  cantons  in  the  centre  of  the 
country,  all  of  them  touching  upon  the  Lake  of 
Lucerne.  At  the  outset  this  was  a  league  of  pastoral 
republics,  whose  wild  and  mountainous  territory  was 
not  over  thirty-five  miles  square.  To  this  nucleus, 
however,  were  soon  added  neighbouring  districts 
and  cities,  till,  in  the  year  1353,  they  became  the 
"  League  of  Eight."  For  a  century  and  a  quarter 
this  was  the  extent  of  the  Confederation.  Uri, 
Schwyz,  Unterwalden,  Zug,  Glarus,  Lucerne,  Zu- 
rich, and  Bern  were  the  members  of  the  Union 
during  the  heroic  struggle  for  freedom  from  the 
German  Empire.  Although  they  enjoyed  the 
friendly  assistance  of  others,  this  was  also  the  ex- 
tent of  the  Confederation  in  the  "  glorious  period  " 
of  the  Burgundian  wars,  when  Charles  the  Bold  was 
defeated  in  1476,  and  when,  for  a  time,  these 
mountaineers  became  the  arbiters  of  Europe.  Just 
at  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  number 
of  confederated  cantons  was  increased  to  thirteen 
by  the  addition  of  Basel,  Schaffhausen,  and  Appen- 
zell,  while  States  like  Geneva,  Neuchatel,  and  the 
Grisons  remained  in  the  position  of  friendly  allies. 

Part  of  this  Confederation  consisted  of  rural 
democracies  engaged  in  pastoral  or  agricultural 
pursuits  and  governing  themselves  with  most  com- 
plete democracy.  The  other  members  were  flourish- 
ing city  States,  like  Bern,  Lucerne,  Zurich,  and 
Basel,  whose  municipal  population  followed  com- 
merce and  industry  with  varying  intensity,  and 
whose  governments  were  more  or  less  aristocratic. 


An  Historical  Survey  5 

The  original  mountain  States  enjoyed  the  proud 
distinction  of  having  founded  Swiss  freedom,  but 
by  this  time  the  leadership  in  State  policy  as  well  as 
in  general  civilisation  lay  with  the  cities.  Among 
these  Zurich  and  Bern  were  pre-eminent  in  political 
influence. 

Toward  the  cities  the  rural  cantons  exhibited  a 
jealousy  which  had  for  a  long  time  prevented  any 
additions  to  the  Confederation  and  afterward  caused 
trouble  in  federal  politics.  It  was  feared  that  the 
cities  would  endeavour  to  absorb  the  powers  of  the 
rural  States,  or,  by  their  votes  in  the  Diet,  enact 
measures  oppressive  to  the  country  people.  This 
suspicion  was  not  without  some  foundation,  for  the 
governments  of  the  cities  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
treating  the  rural  population  of  their  own  territories 
with  less  consideration.  They  often  discriminated 
against  the  industry  and  productions  of  the  people 
outside  the  walls  of  the  towns  and  gave  the  city 
dwellers  superior  rights. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  city  States  were  greater 
in  population,  wealth,  and  intelligence,  but  the 
great  city  of  Bern  had  no  more  votes  in  the  Con- 
federation than  the  tiny  democracy  of  Uri.  Friction 
naturally  followed,  and  occasionally  there  were  open 
hostilities,  followed  by  armed  conflict.  At  times 
there  were  recriminations  by  means  of  duties  on 
goods  and  by  shutting  off  routes  of  transportation. 
On  both  sides  great  selfishness  had  been  displayed, 
but  the  small  cantons  had  been,  on  the  whole,  more 
obstinate,  for  they  had,  at  times,  nearly  sacrificed 
the  Confederation  to  maintain  their  local  interests. 


6  Huldreich  Zwingli 

Hence  we  may  expect  to  find  great  contrasts  be- 
tween the  actions  of  the  various  parts  of  Switzer- 
land when  new  doctrines  of  religion  upheave  the 
established  order  of  thinking. 

The  great  arena  of  political  action  was  the  federal 
congress,  called  the  Diet,  which  met  at  stated  in- 
tervals in  the  various  large  cities  alternately.  This 
Diet  was  an  assembly  of  delegates  from  the  various 
cantons,  who  came  together  to  deliberate  and  to 
pass  resolutions  on  matters  of  common  interest. 
The  passing  of  resolutions  and  recommendations 
was  in  reality  the  limit  of  their  legislative  power,  for 
the  delegations  could  not  vote  finally  without  the 
consent  of  their  home  governments.  No  act  could 
be  passed  without  the  unanimous  consent  of  all  the 
cantons,  and  when  a  law  was  enacted  there  was  no 
central  government  to  enforce  it.  The  execution  of 
the  laws  was  left  to  the  cantonal  governments,  and 
there  was  no  one  to  punish  infraction  except  the 
offenders  themselves.  Consequently  federal  laws 
were  obeyed  in  those  States  which  saw  fit  to  enforce 
them. 

Federal  government,  therefore,  was  a  system  of 
treaties  and  agreements  chiefly  touching  foreign 
relations.  The  welfare  of  the  citizen  lay  in  the 
hands  of  his  canton.  To  that  he  owed  his  alle- 
giance and  patriotic  devotion,  and  from  that  he  ob- 
tained protection  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  liberties. 
The  history  of  the  reformation  in  the  Church  revolves 
about  the  fact  that  each  State  determined  for  itself 
the  form  of  worship  in  its  own  territory.  In  spite 
of    this    independent     sovereignty,    however,    the 


An  Historical  Survey  7 

political  destiny  of  the  nation  lay,  in  considerable 
measure,  in  the  hands  of  the  Diet,  for  agreements 
with  foreign  Powers  were  made  by  that  assembly. 

Mercenary  Service 

At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
Swiss  were  much  courted  by  foreign  governments 
desiring  mercenary  soldiers,  and  foreign  ambassadors 
were  constantly  appearing  before  the  authorities 
with  weighty  requests.  A  meeting  of  the  Diet  in 
1 5 12  at  the  city  of  Baden  may  serve  as  an  example. 
The  minutes  for  August  ii.  inform  us  that  on  that 
day  in  the  hall  of  assembly  the  deputy  of  the  Duke 
of  Lorraine  read  a  message  respecting  the  passage  of 
soldiers  through  that  province.  A  representative 
of  the  Pope  presented  to  the  Confederation  a  sword, 
a  hat,  and  two  banners,  together  with  privileges 
contained  in  a  Bull,  as  honourable  rewards  for  faith- 
ful services.  An  ambassy  from  the  King  of  Spain 
requested  that  the  Confederation  should  join  in  the 
league  which  had  been  formed  between  the  Pope, 
the  King  of  Spain,  and  the  Republic  of  Venice. 
An  ambassy  from  the  Duke  of  Savoy  hoped  that 
former  agreements  with  him  would  be  maintained. 
Imperial  ambassadors  desired  the  confederates  to 
join  in  a  campaign  in  Burgundy.  A  motion  was 
offered  on  the  relations  of  the  Confederation  to  the 
Duchy  of  Milan.  An  ambassy  from  the  Republic 
of  Venice  desired  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  the 
Swiss,  and  received  answer  that  the  conflict  between 
the  Emperor  and  the  Venetians  must  be  smoothed 
over  before  the  Diet  could  consider  the  matter.     On 


8  Huldreich  Zwingli 

the  following  day  further  hearings  were  given  to 
these  Powers,  and  proposals  were  entertained  which 
involved  cessions  of  territory  and  large  pecuniary 
rewards  for  military  services. 

Thus  we  may  see  that  the  Swiss  at  the  turning  of 
the  century  were  not  an  obscure  people,  busied  only 
with  their  own  affairs.  They  were  for  the  moment 
a  European  Power,  whose  good-will  and  services 
were  sedulously  courted.  The  soldiers  of  Switzer- 
land fought  in  the  armies  of  all  the  great  States, 
sometimes  on  one  side  and  sometimes  on  another, 
and  were  even  found  in  opposing  camps.  The 
effects  of  this  upon  politics  and  morality  were  far 
reaching,  for  the  Swiss  at  this  time  were  not  fight- 
ing for  independence,  nor  in  self-defence,  but  for 
the  mercenary  rewards  of  the  employing  Powers. 

The  Diet  was  not  the  only  authority  brought  in 
contact  with  foreign  monarchs.  Its  meeting  was 
a  convenient  place'  to  negotiate  with  all  Switzer- 
land at  once,  but  it  was  necessary  to  deal  with  the 
cantonal  governments  also.  Every  little  capital  or 
legislature  was  approached  by  foreign  emissaries  on 
the  subject  of  military  aid.  Enlistment  was  carried 
on  by  the  States  themselves,  and  contracts  were 
made  with  foreign  governments  for  the  services  of 
the  companies  required.  Induced  by  the  high  pay 
and  opportunities  for  plunder,  the  hardy  mountain- 
eers eagerly  ventured  into  any  war.  The  demoral- 
ising effects  of  this  system  appeared  not  alone  among 
the  soldiery  and  in  private  life.  Official  corruption 
was  universal,  and  was  taken  so  much  as  a  matter  of 
course  that  it  brought  no  disgrace  to  public  men. 


An  Historical  Survey  9 

In  order  to  gain  favour  with  these  statesmen, 
foreign  monarchs  vied  with  each  other  in  granting 
subsidies,  pensions,  and  special  bribes.  Persons  in 
authority  even  accepted  gifts  from  two  or  more 
Powers  at  the  same  time,  and  voted  for  the  side 
which  appeared  the  more  profitable.  Patriotism 
sank  to  a  very  low  ebb,  and  statesmanship  was 
busier  with  its  rewards  than  with  its  duties.  Money 
flowed  into  the  country  through  numerous  channels. 
There  was  the  bounty  to  the  State  itself  for  its 
contingent,  then  the  pensions  to  the  statesmen  for 
granting  the  same,  followed  by  the  pay  of  the 
soldiers  themselves,  and  such  plunder  as  they  might 
have  captured  or  ransomed  while  away.  When  the 
size  and  number  of  the  mercenary  contingents  are 
taken  into  consideration,  it  will  be  seen  that  a  large 
proportion  of  the  population  was  in  greater  or  less 
degree  dependent  on  the  foreign  subsidies.  The 
effect  of  this  was  not  slow  in  coming. 

Even  before  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury the  lawmakers,  both  cantonal  and  federal,  had 
been  conscious  of  the  evil,  and  had  been  endeavour- 
ing to  check  enlistment  in  foreign  service.  The 
Diet  repeatedly  passed  resolutions  on  the  subject, 
but  these  were  for  the  most  part  feeble  attempts  to 
prevent  irregular  and  unofficial  enlistments.  For 
example,  in  1479,  ^^  was  resolved  that  every  canton 
should  require  its  soldiers  to  take  oath  not  to  go 
privately  into  foreign  war.  Some  thought  that 
offenders  should  be  punished  with  death.  The  ter- 
ritorial governors  were  ordered  to  capture  and  im- 
prison all  soldiers  who  had  been  fighting  under  the 


lo  Huldreich  Zwingli 

German  Emperor,  and  to  hold  them  till  they  should 
pay  five  pounds  fine  and  should  take  oath  not  to 
enlist  without  permission  of  the  authorities.  In 
1488,  the  German  Emperor,  on  his  side,  requested 
the  confederates  not  to  allow  their  soldiers  to  enlist 
in  France  without  permission.  The  Governor  of 
Baden  was  ordered  to  punish  soldiers  returning  from 
France  with  ten  pounds  fine  or  imprisonment.  In 
1492,  another  ordinance  against  unauthorised  enlist- 
ment recommended  a  fine  with  imprisonment  on 
bread  and  water.* 

From  time  to  time  complaints  were  brought 
against  the  cantonal  governments  because  they  did 
not  suppress  *'  running  away  to  war,"  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  cantons  asked  aid  of  the  confederates  to 
suppress  the  evil.  Yet  the  anxiety  seems  to  have 
been  caused  more  by  the  irregularities  than  by  the 
mercenary  system  itself.  In  1498,  a  petition  was  re- 
ceived from  Swiss  soldiers  serving  against  France  in 
the  armies  in  Burgundy  requesting  that  no  con- 
tingents from  the  Confederation  be  allowed  to  fight 
against  them.  The  same  Diet  received  an  ambassy 
from  the  Emperor  of  Germany  with  a  mission  to 
disentangle  other  complications  arising  from  simul- 
taneous enlistment  in  the  service  of  that  country. 

The  root  of  the  evil  was  discovered  in  due  time, 


'  The  acts  of  the  Diet  are  to  be  found  in  the  AmtUche  Sarntnlung 
der  Eidgenossischen  Abschicde,  1245-1798,  in  8  vols.,  4to,  published 
by  the  Swiss  Federal  Government.  These  documents  are  not  ex- 
actly minutes  of  the  Diet,  but  instructions  given  to  the  delegates  at 
the  adjournment  of  each  meeting  as  to  what  they  should  refer  to 
their  home  governments.      Citations  may  be  traced  by  the  dates. 


An  Historical  Survey  ii 

but  it  was  difficult  to  work  any  reform,  for  the  law- 
makers themselves  were  entangled.  The  acceptance 
of  pensions  from  foreign  governments  was  common 
among  the  statesmen  of  all  countries  at  this  time. 
Public  sentiment  did  not  appear  to  frown  on  the 
practice  unless  in  flagrant  cases  of  disloyalty.  Hence 
it  is  not  surpiising  that  the  evil  consequences 
were  not  immediately  condemned  in  Switzerland. 
Furthermore,  the  military  profession  was  a  welcome 
career  to  the  hard-worked  peasantry  of  every  can- 
ton, and  offered  rich  and  rapid  rewards  in  place  of 
the  slow  returns  of  ordinary  labour. 

The  time  came,  however,  when  good  citizens, 
observing  the  moral  effect  of  these  things,  en- 
deavoured not  only  to  regulate  enlistment  but  to 
suppress  the  pension  system  entirely.  Resolutions, 
offered  from  time  to  time,  condemned  the  practice 
and  urged  the  States  to  prohibit  the  entrance  of 
pension  money  into  their  borders.  A  notable  ex- 
ample of  this  was  an  agreement  brought  forward  in 
the  Diet  of  July,  1503.  The  cantons  were  asked 
to  enforce  a  law  to  this  effect : 

"That  no  one  in  the  Confederation,  whether  he  be 
townsman,  countryman,  or  subject  peasant,  clerical  or 
layman,  noble  or  unnoble,  rich  or  poor,  of  whatever 
rank  or  condition,  shall  from  this  day  on  receive  from 
emperors,  kings,  princes,  lords,  or  cities,  spiritual  or 
temporal  powers,  or  from  anyone  whomsoever,  any  pen- 
sion, service  money,  provision,  allowance,  salary,  or 
gifts,  whether  this  come  to  himself  or  through  his  wife, 
children,  servants,  or  others,  whereby  it  come  to  his  use, 
either  secretly  or  openly." 


12  Huldreich  Zvvingli 

Any  person  who  shall  be  convicted  of  disobedience 
to  this  order  shall  be 

"forever  removed  from  the  honours  and  offices  which  he 
may  have,  and  shall  not  be  employed  in  honourable  af- 
fairs, as  in  courts  of  justice,  councils,  embassies,  and  such 
matters,  but  from  that  hour  on  he  shall  be  arrested  by 
the  proper  authorities  and  punished  in  person  and  goods 
as  they  may  think  best." 

Although  this  resolution  was  accepted  by  all  the 
cantons,  it  was  not  an  easy  matter  to  enforce,  for 
the  enlistment  itself  was  not  stopped.  According 
to  the  same  act,  recruiting  must  be  official,  and  only 
irregular  running  away  to  war  was  to  be  punished.. 
The  pensions  went  on  as  before,  and  in  a  few  years 
the  law  was  abrogated  by  a  resolution  to  allow  the 
cantons  to  do  as  they  pleased. 

In  the  Italian  campaigns  of  the  first  two  decades 
of  the  sixteenth  century  the  Swiss  suffered  severe 
losses  in  men,  but  the  effect  of  this  was  to  bring 
more  money  into  the  country,  for  soldiers  were 
harder  to  obtain.  In  consequence  of  the  treaties 
'entered  into  between  1516  and  1521  Switzerland 
was  deluged  with  coin.  From  France  there  were 
annual  subsidies  of  3000  livres  to  each  of  the  can- 
tons, and  to  the  Confederation  as  a  whole  a  sum  of 
700,000  crowns  was  offered  in  one  payment  as  in- 
demnity for  the  wars  of  15 13  and  15 15.  At  the 
same  time  the  Duke  of  Milan  agreed  to  pay  150,000 
ducats  at  once  and  40,000  ducats  annually.  Besides 
these  sums  there  were  subsidies  from  Austria  and 
from  the  Pope.     Although  these  promises  were  not 


An  Historical  Survey  13 

always  punctually  fulfilled,  nevertheless  a  constant 
stream  of  foreign  gold  poured  into  the  valleys  of 
Helvetia,' 

The  effect  of  the  military  service  was  brutalising. 
The  foreign  gold  so  easily  obtained  brought  with  it 
corruption  of  morals.  The  chronicler  Anshelm  of 
Bern,  writing  about  the  year  1500,  complains  bit- 
terly of  the  changes  seen  in  the  manners  and  customs 
of  the  people.  To  be  sure,  he  excites  himself  over 
many  unessential  matters  of  dress,  but  they  all  in- 
dicate to  him  a  passion  for  extravagance  and  luxury 
leading  to  moral  debasement.  Such  were  shaggy 
hats  with  many  ostrich  plumes  for  men, -cloth  from 
London  and  Lombardy,  long  coats  with  many  folds, 
silk  jackets  even  for  peasants,  parti-coloured  stock- 
ings, slashed  shoes  with  rings  on  the  toes,  silver 
pipes,  and  silk  sashes.  To  his  mind  all  these  go 
with  gambling,  disorderly  shouting,  extravagant 
dances,  overmuch  eating,  and  the  consumption  of 
foreign  wines,  confections,  and  spices.  Rich  men 
built  themselves  great  houses  with  high  glass  wind- 
ows full  of  painted  coats  of  arms.  Women,  like- 
wise, must  have  costly  dresses  and  ornaments, 

"  and  as  these  expensive  manners  have  increased,  so  in 
the  same  measure  have  increased  the  lust  for  honours 
and  goods,  trickery  and  unfaithfulness,  unbelief,  haughti- 
ness, pride,  debauchery,  scorn,  and  with  them  all  arts  for 
gaining  money,  especially  those  things  which  serve  the 


'  The  sums  above  mentioned  have  a  present  silver  value  of  about 
$1,871,600,  but  the  purchase  power  was  many  times  greater  at  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century. 


14  Huldreich  Zwingli 

tongue    [palate]   and   trades  which  are   serviceable   to 
luxurious  pride." ' 

Opinions  of  Foreigners 

The  opinions  of  certain  foreign  observers  of  the 
time  are  not  flattering.  For  instance,  Balcus,  an 
ambassador  from  Milan,  wrote  between  the  years 
1500  and  1504  a  description  of  the  Confederation, 
in  which  the  annoyances  of  a  foreigner  are  mingled 
with  valuable  impressions  of  the  people.^  Coming 
from  the  bright  skies  of  Italy  and  from  the  higher 
civilisation  of  the  southern  cities,  it  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  the  Italians  would  be  altogether  pleased 
with  their  mountain  neighbours. 

Says  Balcus: 

"Although  the  Swiss  are  altogether  unhewn  barbarians, 
yet  they  live  among  themselves  according  to  certain 
laws  which  they  consider  so  holy  that  no  one  dare  to 
break  or  overstep  them,  because  it  is  a  crime  to  have 
broken  them  even  in  the  slightest.  Our  civil  law,  how- 
ever, our  good  manners  and  honourable  customs,  and, 
what  is  worse,  their  own  laws  and  ordinances  respecting 
other  nations,  they  do  not  themselves  observe  at  all,  be- 
cause they  are  without  fidelity,  uprightness,  and  hu- 
manity ;  but  they  seize  rudely  everything  before  them, 
building  upon  obstinacy,  not  upon  wisdom." 

"  When  they  start  out  to  war  they  swear  a  solemn  oath 
that  every  man  who  sees  one  of  his  comrades  desert,  or 

'  Anshelm,  Berner-Chronik  (Anno,  1503).  Oeclisli,  QucUenbuck, 
ii.,  464. 

^  Balcus,  Descriptio  Helvetice,  edited  by  Beruouilli  for  Quellen  ztif 
Sehweizergeschichtc,  vi.,  78-  Oechsli,  Quellenbuch,  ii.,  470, 


An  Historical  Survey  15 

act  the  coward  in  battle,  will  cut  him  down  on  the  spot, 
for  they  believe  that  the  courage  and  persistency  of 
warriors  is  greater  when  they,  out  of  fear  of  death,  do 
not  fear  death." 

"  In  peace,  however,  and  when  one  citizen  brings 
complaints  against  another  citizen,  they  bind  themselves 
also  by  an  oath,  for,  if  they  have  any  business  with  one 
another  and  fall  into  strife,  as  it  often  happens,  and 
seize  their  weapons  or  begin  to  curse  each  other,  if  then 
another  party  comes  forward,  places  himself  in  their 
midst,  and  begs  them  to  lay  down  the  weapons  and  to 
talk  over  the  matter  in  peace,  and  commands  them  to  be 
peaceful,  and  if  one  of  the  contending  parties  will  not 
hearken,  the  man  who  offers  himself  as  a  peacemaker  is 
bound  by  oath  to  kill  him,  and  that  without  punishment." 

"  They  begin  a  battle  after  they  have  formed  their 
phalanx  according  to  the  old  methods  of  war,  and  stead- 
fast and  fearless,  they  are  almost  indifferent  to  life  and 
death.  In  court  they  judge  not  according  to  the  written 
laws  but  according  to  common  custom,  and  believe  that 
nothing  is  more  favourable  to  justice  than  a  quick  judg- 
ment, wherefore  they  overthrow  the  procedures  and 
sentences  of  court.  To  curse  God  and  heavenly  things 
is  regarded  by  them  as  a  crime  worthy  of  death,  and  if 
any  one  of  them  is  prosecuted  they  do  not  allow  any 
pity  to  prevent  him  from  being  punished  according  to 
the  law." 

"  Although  accustomed  to  robbery  yet  the  people  have 
an  extravagant  generosity  to  the  poor.  The  scholars  in 
the  study  of  Latin,  if  there  are  any  such,  beg  their  living 
with  singing.  Their  stately  but  remarkably  extravagant 
daily  meals  they  spin  out  to  great  length,  so  that  they 
spend  two  to  three  hours  at  table  eating  their  many 
dishes  and  barbarous  spices  with  much  noise  and  con- 


1 6  Huldreich  Zwingli 

versation.  They  show  ill-will  against  those  who  despise 
this  kind  of  table  pleasure." 

"  When  princely  ambassadors  arrive,  the  heads  of  the 
city,  or  certain  ones  from  the  council,  visit  them  imme- 
diately to  give  them  greeting.  At  breakfast  or  supper 
there  is  a  continual  crowd  around  them,  including 
not  only  the  invited  or  important  persons  in  office,  but 
with  these  many  insignificant  people.  All  these  the 
ambassadors  must  receive  in  a  friendly  way  and  feed 
them  richly,  otherwise  they  will  be  followed  with  per- 
petual hate  and  ill-will.  In  among  these  will  creep  also 
clowns  and  jugglers  and  whoever  understands  amusing 
arts,  and  one  must  receive  this  kind  of  people,  admire 
their  wit,  and  before  going  away  must  leave  them  some 
kind  of  a  present  or  reward  for  their  art.  Furthermore 
ihe  council  is  accustomed  to  send  to  every  ambassador, 
daily,  several  measures  of  wine  at  the  hours  for  breakfast 
and  supper.  The  persons  who  bring  these  things  are 
rewarded  by  the  receiver  of  the  gift  with  a  small  gold- 
piece,  and  at  his  departure  with  at  least  one  more  gold- 
piece.  Whereupon  the  whole  expense  is  charged  to 
public  good  and  advantage." 

"  Custom  allows  that  women,  who  on  account  of  the 
beauty  of  their  faces  and  the  attraction  of  their  persons 
are  uncommonly  lovable,  may  be  embraced  and  kissed 
anywhere  and  by  anybody  without  distinction.' ^  The 
cultivation  of  the  intellect  is  rare  and  the  noble  virtues 
receive  no  honour.  This  low-born  people,  this  lot  of 
peasants,  born  in  mountains  and  woods  and  brought  up 
in  a  narrow  hole,  have  begun  to  play  the  lord  in  Europe, 
and  think  nothing  of  enlarging  the  borders  of  their  own 
dominion  if  anyone  allows  them  the  opportunity  to  do 

'  Erasmus  says  this  was  true  in  England  at  the  time  (Letter  to 
Anderlin,  Epis.,  Ixv.,  quoted  by  Froude,  Lift:  and  Letters ,  p.  45). 


An  Historical  Survey  17 

so.  Moreover,  there  is  no  doubt  that  wars,  peace,  the 
victories  and  the  misfortunes  of  famous  kings,  depend 
upon  them.  This  little  band  of  cowherds  and  shepherds, 
who  pass  the  day  in  the  drawing  and  the  thickening  of 
milk  ;  who  are,  so  to  speak,  without  law  and  ignorant  of 
things  human  and  divine  ;  will  prescribe  laws  for  all 
others  and  sit  in  judgment  on  the  affairs  of  princes,  as 
though  the  appeal  and  the  highest  judgment  belonged 
to  them.  For  assumption  and  violent  passion,  the  dis- 
eases which  are  so  near  to  madness,  they  surpass  all 
other  mortal  beings,  but  among  themselves  they  agree 
so  well  together  that  as  a  reward  and  fruit  of  their 
unity  they  enjoy  an  undisturbed  and  continuous  free- 
dom, to  which  indeed  the  quarrels  of  others  have  given 
assistance." 

Johannes  Trithemius,  a  learned  German  abbot, 
writing  of  the  wars  of  the  Swabian  League,  included 
the  following  description  of  the  Swiss  * : 

"  Whether  the  Confederates  have  had  a  just  or  an  unjust 
cause  for  war  is  not  for  me  to  decide,  since  I  do  not 
hold  the  place  of  a  judge.  But  this  I  say,  this  I  write 
and  hand  on  in  writing  to  the  future  world,  which 
everybody  knows  to-day  who  has  lived  with  us  in  Ger- 
many, and  which  all  say,  who  know  the  manner  of  the 
Swiss,  that  they  are  a  people  proud  by  nature,  enemies 
of  princes,  riotous,  and  for  a  long  time  have  been  con- 
trary and  disobedient  to  their  overlords ;  filled  with 
contempt  for  others  and  full  of  assumption  for  them- 
selves ;  deceitful  in  war  and  lovers  of  treason  ;  in  peace 
never  steadfast  ;  nor  do  they  inquire  about  the  justice 

'  Annaliiun  Hirsaugiensium,  ii.,  572  (Edit.  1690)  ;  Oechsli,  QueU 
lenbuck,  i.,  2S2. 


i8  Huldreich  Zwingli 

of  what  is  due  from  them  by  law,  especially  when  it 
affects  the  independence  which  they  have  the  effrontery 
to  assume.  I  say  nevertheless  that  they  are  not  only  bold 
in  war  but  also  shrewd,  and  they  are  mutually  helpful  in 
time  of  need,  and  no  one  leaves  another  in  danger,  nor 
do  the  rich  despise  the  poor." 

In  1504,  Jacob  Wimpheling,  one  of  the  literary 
lights  of  the  period,  presented  to  the  Elector  of 
Mainz  a  remarkable  address  in  the  form  of  a  prayer 
for  the  conversion  of  the  Swiss.  He  takes  advant- 
age of  his  position  before  the  Throne  to  bring  in  a 
scathing  indictment  of  that  people.  Among  other 
things  he  says : 

"  In  the  capture  of  prisoners  there  is  more  humanity 
to  be  found  among  Turks  and  Bohemians  than  among 
the  Swiss." 

"  Their  laws  and  ordinances  when  summed  up  are 
three  :  We  will  not  ;  we  will  ;  you  must." 

"  Pope  Pius  11.  in  agreement  with  us,  complains  greatly 
of  this.  He  says  that  they  are  a  proud  people  by 
nature  who  will  not  act  according  to  justice,  unless  this 
justice  is  serviceable  to  them,  and  they  hold  nothing  for 
right  except  when  it  agrees  with  their  fantastic  ideas. 
And  how  can  they  truly  understand  right  and  justice, 
when  their  lives  are  spent,  not  in  the  study  of  the  philo- 
sophers nor  of  the  laws  of  the  Emperor,  but  in  arms 
and  warfare  ?  "  ' 

The  German  Humanist,  Pirckheimer,  in  his  con- 
temporary history  of  a  war  in  which  the  Swiss  had 
been  engaged,  characterises  the  military  prowess  of 

■  Oechsli,  Quclknbiich,  i.,  2S2. 


An  Historical  Survey  19 

that  people.'    After  a  description  of  the  Burgundian 
campaign  he  continues  as  follows: 

**  In  the  meanwhile  the  Swiss  rested  from  the  alarms 
of  war,  for  no  power  was  so  great  after  the  suppression 
of  the  Burgundians  that  it  would  have  dared  to  challenge 
them.  They  permitted  forces  to  be  sent  now  to  Maxi- 
milian, now  to  the  French,  not  only  because  they  wished 
to  exercise  their  youth  in  warlike  discipline,  but  also 
because  they  feared,  or  rather,  hated  both,  and  the  suc- 
cess of  either  party  roused  their  anger.  In  truth,  all 
Germans  have  received  from  the  Swiss  the  weapons 
and  the  military  tactics  which  they  now  use,  for  they 
threw  away  the  shield  which  they  had  formerly  been 
accustomed  to  use,  like  all  other  nations.  They  learned 
through  experience  that  the  shield  could  not  in  any 
way  withstand  the  power  of  the  phalanx  and  of  the 
lance.  Therefore,  up  to  my  time,  all  those  who  carried 
spears,  halberds,  and  swords,  were  called  Swiss,  even  if 
they  were  born  in  the  middle  of  Germany,  until  finally, 
on  account  of  hatred  of  the  Swiss,  the  name  '  Lands- 
knecht,'  that  is,  soldiers  from  the  home  country,  came 
up  and  began  to  be  famous." 

Macchiavelli '  makes  frequent  references  to  the 
military  reputation  of  the  Swiss  and  to  the  resulting 
political  independence.  He  is  more  or  less  indiffer- 
ent to  the  moral  effects  of  these  facts. 

"  From  experience  one  observes  armed  republics  mak- 
ing the  greatest  progress,  but  mercenary  armies  bring  on 


'  Pirckheimer,  Hist,  belli  Suitensis,  p.  li  ;  Oechsli,  Quellenbtuh^ 
i.,  285. 

*  The  Prince^  chap.  xii. 


20  Huldreich  Zwingli 

nothing  but  evil  ;  and  it  is  more  difificult  for  a  republic 
to  fall  into  the  power  of  one  of  its  citizens,  when  it  is 
armed  with  its  own  weapons  than  when  it  is  armed  with 
foreign  weapons.  Rome  and  Sparta  remained  many 
centuries  armed  and  free.  The  Swiss  are  the  most  thor- 
oughly armed  and  the  freest  of  nations." 

He  also  speaks  of  the  Swiss  as  "  the  teachers  of  the 
modern  art  of  war,"  whose  formations  and  tactics 

every  nation  has  imitated." 

Guicciardini,  in  h.\s  History  of  Italy, ^  is  obliged  to 
touch  upon  its  relations  with  Switzerland.  He  gives 
a  calm  review  of  the  institutions  of  the  country,  but 
the  effects  of  the  mercenary  service  on  moral  charac- 
ter are  plainly  discernible. 

"  The  Swiss  are  of  the  same  kind  as  those  who  are  called 
Helvetians  by  the  ancients,  and  a  race  which  dwells  in 
mountains  higher  than  the  Jura.  .  .  .  They  are 
divided  into  thirteen  peoples  (they  call  them  cantons), 
each  one  of  which  rules  itself  with  its  own  magistrates, 
laws,  and  ordinances.  They  order  every  year  or  oftener,  as 
occasion  arises,  a  discussion  of  their  common  affairs,  as- 
sembling at  this  or  that  place,  as  the  delegates  of  the 
cantons  decide.  They  call  these  assemblies,  according 
to  German  usage.  Federal  Diets,  at  which  they  decide 
upon  war,  peace,  or  treaties,  or  consider  the  requests  of 
those  who  demand  soldiers  or  volunteers,  and  all  other 
things  which  concern  their  common  interests.  When 
the  cantons  grant  mercenaries  by  law,  they  themselves 
choose  a  captain  to  whom  the  army,  with  the  flag,  is  en- 
trusted   in    the  name  of  the  State.     This  terrible   and 


'  Guicciardini,  La  Ilistoiia  W Italia,  Book  X.,  cap.  iii.,  anno  1511, 


An  Historical  Survey  21 

unlearned  people  have  made  a  great  name  for  unity  and 
skill  in  arms,  with  which,  by  their  natural  bravery  and 
the  discipline  of  their  tactics,  they  have  not  only  power- 
fully defended  their  own  country,  but  also  outside  of 
their  native  land  they  have  exercised  the  arts  of  war 
with  the  greatest  reputation.  But  this  would  have  been 
immeasurably  greater  if  they  had  used  it  for  their  own 
authority,  not  for  pay  and  the  extension  of  the  dominion 
of  others,  or  if  they  had  had  before  their  eyes  nobler 
aims  than  the  lust  for  money.  From  love  of  this  they 
lost  the  opportunity  to  make  all  Italy  fruitful,  for,  since 
they  came  from  home  only  as  hired  soldiers,  they  have 
carried  away  for  their  State  no  fruits  of  their  victories. 
.  .  .  At  home  the  important  people  are  not  ashamed 
to  take  presents  and  pensions  from  foreign  princes,  as 
inducements  to  take  their  side  and  favour  them  in-the 
councils.  As  by  this  means  they  have  mixed  their  private 
interests  with  public  affairs,  and  have  become  purchasable 
and  bribe-takers,  so  disunion  has  crept  in  among  them. 
After  the  practice  had  once  begun  that  those  things 
which  had  been  agreed  to  by  the  majority  of  the  cantons 
at  the  Diet,  were  not  followed  by  all  the  States,  they 
finally  came  a  few  years  ago  into  open  war  with  each 
other,  from  which  followed  the  greatest  injury  to  the 
reputation  which  they  had  everywhere  enjoyed." 

The  comments  of  these  more  or  less  unsympa- 
thetic foreigners  are  confirmed  by  the  observations 
of  native  writers,  like  the  Humanist,  Bonifacius 
Amerbach  of  Basel:  "  If  there  ever  was  a  time, 
the  word  of  the  poet  is  now  true^  '  this  is,  indeed,  the 
acre  of  sold.'  "  * 


•  Letter   to   Zasius,   1520.      Burckhardt,    B.   Amerbach    ttnd  die 
Reformation,  p.  138. 


22  Huldreich  Zwingli 

Sumptuary  Laws 

As  we  have  noted  in  other  connections,  magis- 
trates and  authorities  were  to  some  extent  aware 
of  the  evils  of  the  time  and  endeavoured  to  stop 
the  progress  of  corruption.  It  would  be  unfair  to 
measure  their  efforts  by  standards  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  but  we  can  see  that  the  lawmakers  only 
trimmed  the  twigs  of  the  tree  so  long  as  they  failed 
to  prohibit  foreign  pensions.  They  tried  to  stop 
the  descent  of  moral  character  by  laws  against  lux- 
ury and  new  fashions.  Their  intentions  were  excel- 
lent, but  their  efforts  apparently  unavailing.  It  is 
a  wide-spread  belief  that  "  blue  laws  "  were  an  in- 
vention of  the  Puritans,  but  in  reality  they  began 
in  antiquity  and  continued  through  the  Middle  Ages 
into  modern  times.  Sumptuary  ordinances  were 
repeatedly  enacted  in  the  cities  of  Switzerland  be- 
fore the  Reformation,  and  a  few  may  be  cited  here 
to  show  how  they  attempted  to  regulate  private 
conduct  in  those  days. 

In  Basel,  in  1441-42,  it  was  forbidden  to  play  dice 
in  the  guilds,  or  club-houses.  Betting  must  on  no 
account  exceed  four  or  five  pence.  After  the  nine 
o'clock  bell  the  house  master  and  servants  should 
stop  all  playing  and  send  the  guests  home,  in  order 
that  profane  swearing  and  cursing  might  be  pre- 
vented. Wedding  feasts,  which  often  took  place  at 
the  guild-house,  were  limited  to  one  day  and  to  a 
fixed  expenditure. 

Likewise  at  Zurich,  in  the  ordinances  of  1488,  we 
read  that  "  No  citizen  shall   in   future  extend  his 


An  Historical  Survey  23 

wedding  feast  over  more  than  one  day."  If  he  is  a 
member  of  an  aristocratic  guild,  and  consequently 
able  to  bear  the  expense,  he  may  invite  the  ladies 
of  the  guild,  otherwise  no  one  except  the  relatives 
may  come.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  custom  to 
give  presents  to  the  guests.  A  maximum  of  five 
shillings  is  fixed  for  this  for  each  person,  while  bride 
and  groom  receive  no  gifts  whatever.  Extravagance 
at  christenings  is  to  be  stopped  by  fixing  the  limit 
of  gifts,  and  other  festivals  in  like  manner. 

The  effect  of  the  influx  of  foreign  money  and 
foreign  fashions  seems  to  have  been  felt  in  1488. 
The  Zurich  ordinance  on  the  subject  reads  as  follows: 

"  In  view  of  the  marked  disorder  which  has  begun  in 
our  city  among  the  common  people  on  account  of  the 
costly  clothing  which  their  wives  and  daughters  wear, 
and  in  order  to  prevent  this,  we  have  ordained  that  here- 
after no  woman  or  girl  shall  in  any  wise  wear  silver-  or 
gold-plated  pins,  rings,  or  buckles,  nor  any  silk  garment 
or  trimming  on  coats,  shoes,  neckwear,  etc.,  except  the 
women  of  the  guilds  of  the  Ruden  and  Schneckefi. 
Further,  no  woman  of  the  community  shall  have  a 
mounted  girdle,  except  those  whose  husbands  possess 
1000  gulden  or  over,  and  they  may  have  one  such  girdle 
and  no  more  to  the  value  of  about  12  gulden.  These 
persons  may  also  have  silk  borders  and  trimmings  on 
their  bodices  with  modesty,  but  without  hooks  and 
buckles,  as  above  said.  If  anyone  acts  contrary  to  this, 
such  forbidden  girdles  shall  be  confiscated  to  the  city^ 
and  whoever  already  has  such  girdles,  whether  few  or 
many,  shall  se/1  the  same,  or  allow  their  husbands  to  sell 
them  for  his  business  and  necessities.     As  to  buckles, 


24  Huldreich  Zwingli 

rings,  and  silk,  everyone  who  disobeys  this  ordinance 
shall  pay  two  marks  of  silver  for  each  offence."' 

Such  were  the  paternal  efforts  of  the  lawmakers 
of  the  end  of  that  century.  Their  enactments  are 
amusing  to  read  and  were  ineffectual  at  the  time, 
but  they  show  the  direction  of  popular  tendencies. 
This  ordinance  of  Zurich  was,  indeed,  the  work  of 
a  dictator,  Hans  Waldman,  who  was  afterwards  de- 
posed and  executed,  but  it  illustrates  none  the  less 
the  reform  methods  of  the  age.  It  was  not  the  scat- 
tered preachers  and  chroniclers  alone  who  uttered 
their  Jeremiads  on  the  state  of  society,  but  councils 
and  legislatures  attempted  in  their  clumsy  fashion  to 
stem  the  drift  toward  extravagance  and  immorality. 

Even  as  late  as  15 19  dancing  was  forbidden  by 
order  of  the  council.  "  Let  it  be  announced  in  the 
pulpits  of  the  city  and  written  notice  sent  into  the 
country  that  since  dancing  has  been  forbidden,  it  is 
also  forbidden  to  musicians  or  anyone  else  to  pro- 
vide dances  in  courts  or  other  places,  whether  it  be 
at  public  weddings  or  church  festivals."  A  pro- 
hibition of  1500  reads:  "  In  order  that  God  the 
Lord  may  protect  the  harvests  which  are  in  the 
field,  and  may  give  us  good  weather,  let  no  person 
dance.'" 

Morals  of  the  Clergy 

The  condition  of  the  clergy  just  previous  to  the 
Reformation  is  a  subject  which  eludes  the  investiga- 

'  Reprinted  in  Oechsli,   i.,   209.     See  Vincent,  "  European  Blue 
Laws,"  Report  Am.  Hist.  Assoc,  1S97,  pp.  357-372  ;  c/.  p.  361  s<^^. 
9  Egli,  Akten.,  No.  82, 


An  Historical  Survey  25 

tor  who  desires  the  exact  truth  in  statistical  form. 
Most  of  our  information  on  this  point  comes  from 
writers  who  eventually  joined  the  reform  move- 
ment, and,  writing  in  the  heat  of  the  events,  there 
may  have  been  a  tendency  to  paint  in  darker  colours 
than  necessary.  We  may  see,  however,  that  the 
priest  was  a  child  of  his  generation.  Conduct  which 
would  not  be  tolerated  at  the  present  time  was  re- 
garded with  indifference  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  Yet  even  then  there  was  complaint  of 
ignorance  and  immorality  among  the  clergy,  and  we 
are  compelled  to  admit  that  there  were  many  in- 
dividual cases  of  immoral  practices,  if  we  do  not  go 
so  far  as  to  indict  the  Church  as  a  whole. 

Authentic  instances  are  on  record  of  monks  given 
over  to  debauchery.  The  waste  of  monastic  prop- 
erty was  a  common  complaint,  and  the  city  of  Zurich 
had  assumed  the  control  or  supervision  of  all  endow- 
ments of  this  kind  within  its  territory.  But  one 
cannot  assume  that  the  clergy  as  a  whole  were  lost 
to  all  sense  of  moral  decency,  nor  do  we  need  such 
facts  to  account  for  the  Reformation. 

The  attention  of  good  men  was  early  called  to 
abuses  which  needed  reform.  For  instance,  Chris- 
topher, Bishop  of  Basel,  in  1503  addressed  the  synod 
of  his  diocese  on  the  subject  of  the  immorality  of 
the  clergy,  and  published  a  body  of  regulations 
which  were  to  be  enforced  with  new  vigour.  His 
language  is  decidedly  unequivocal. 

"  Since  we  have  learned  with  the  greatest  chagrin  that 
the  greater  part  of  the  priests  of  our  city  and  diocese 


26  Huldreich  Zwingli 

when  they  are  called  to  conduct  the  funeral  services  of 
nobles  and  other  persons,  give  themselves  up  to  gaming 
and  drunkenness,  so  that  many  of  them  at  times  sit  the 
whole  night  at  play  ;  others  exhaust  themselves  with 
swilling  and  drunkenness  and  sleep  the  whole  night 
through  on  the  benches,  and  by  other  extraordinary 
excesses  bring  scandal,  disgrace,  and  derision  upon  the 
clerical  profession  :  Therefore,  we  command  that  all 
clergymen  who  are  so  invited,  and  all  others,  shall  not  give 
themselves  up  to  dicing  and  card-playing,  nor  to  other 
irregular  and  disgraceful  actions  at  any  time  whatever, 
and  especially  in  taverns  and  rooms  belonging  to  the 
laity,"  etc. 

A  tendency  to  imitate  the  world  in  clothing  led 
to  ordinances  which  forbade  the  wearing  of  coloured 
silks,  flowing  sleeves,  slashed  mantles,  or  jewelry ; 
nor  should  they  wear  swords,  knives,  or  other  weap- 
ons, unless  travelling.  The  public  worship  should 
be  conducted  with  fitting  decorum. 

"  The  clergy  shall  see  to  it  that  during  the  worship  in 
the  church  they  do  not  walk  up  and  down  with  laymen 
or  other  clergymen,  as  we  have  known  it  often  to  happen 
in  certain  collegiate  churches  of  our  bishopric,  nor  shall 
they  go  out  upon  the  market  in  choir  dress  during  wor- 
ship to  buy  eggs,  cheese,  or  anything  else." 

Regarding  superstitious  practices,  Bishop  Christo- 
pher speaks  with  words  which  are  as  true  for  all  time 
as  for  his  day  : 

"Since  experience  teaches  that  certain  pilgrimages 
and  the  frequent  coming  together  of  the  people  before 


An  Historical  Survey  27 

certain  pictures,  or  even  at  profane  places  hidden  in 
mountains  and  woods,  is  not  so  much  in  consequence  of 
true  appearances  as  of  false  dreams,  or  of  the  imagina- 
tion of  a  sick  phantasy,  and  the  blinding  of  the  senses, 
and  that,  in  accordance  with  their  idle  and  ignorant  be- 
ginning, a  vain  and  ridiculous  result  has  come  from 
them  :  Therefore  we  forbid  that  in  future  the  simple 
folk  shall  be  deceived  through  their  credulity,  or  be  de- 
ceived by  invented  or  superstitious  miracle  stories,  etc." 

Other  sound  admonitions  are  included  in  this 
pastoral  letter,  but  only  those  which  acknowledge 
the  presence  of  gross  evils,  or  immoral  tendencies, 
are  here  quoted.'  Bishop  Hugo  of  Constance,  in  a 
similar  pastoral  letter  of  the  year  15 17,  is  grieved 
to  find  that  many  of  the  clergy  are  not  only  given  to 
drinking  and  gambling,  but  many  are  openly  living 
with  concubines.  He  orders  them  to  remove  all 
such  suspected  women  from  their  houses  and  to  set 
a  better  example  to  the  laity.' 

A  curious  commentary  on  popular  beliefs  is  the 
report  of  the  Governor  of  Baden  to  the  Federal  Diet 
of  1494.  He  states  in  a  most  matter-of-fact  way  that 
he  has  burnt  a  witch,  who  left  a  husband  and  some 
property.  He  desires  instructions  as  to  the  disposal 
of  these  goods.  The  Diet,  as  if  it  were  a  mere 
matter  of  routine,  directs  him  to  hold  her  property 
for  the  Confederation  and  give  the  man  what  be- 
longs to  him. 

'  Oechsli,  ii.,  473. 

"  Simler,  Sammlung  alter  und  neuer  Urkunden  zur  Beleuchtung 
der  Kirchen-Geschichte,  Bd.  i.,  779,  Zurich,  1759. 
'  Eidg.  Abschiede,  iii.,  i,  451. 


2B  Huldreich  Zwingli 

Bullinger,  immediate  successor  of  Zwingli,  and  the 
historian  of  the  Swiss  Reformation,  wrote  as  follows 
concerning  the  clergy  previous  to  the  year  15 19: 

"  At  one  time  during  these  years  when  all  the  deacons 
of  the  Confederation  were  assembled  together  there  were 
found  not  over  three  who  were  well  read  in  the  Bible. 
The  others  acknowledged  that  none  of  them  had  read 
even  the  New  Testament,  whereby  we  may  understand 
how  it  was  with  the  other  clergy,  with  whom  the  case 
was  still  worse.  For,  among  the  clergy  there  was  almost 
no  studying,  but  their  exercise  was  in  gaming,  in  feed- 
ing, and  in  the  practice  of  all  luxuries.  The  more  ear- 
nest were  accused  of  hypocrisy.  Those  who.  studied 
somewhat  devoted  themselves  to  scholastic  theology  and 
canon  law.  The  greater  part  preached  out  of  sermon 
books,  learning  by  heart  sermons  written  by  monks 
and  printed,  repeating  them  to  the  people  without 
judgment.     ... 

"  In  the  churches  the  mass  had  become  a  market  and 
a  place  for  bargaining,  in  fact,  all  sacraments  and  all 
things  which  one  holds  holy  became  venal  and  corrupt. 
The  singing  in  parishes  and  monasteries  was  for  the 
most  part  superstitious,  and  the  monasteries  had  fallen 
into  all  sorts  of  scandals  and  idolatries,  where  no  one  of 
them  observed  so  much  as  the  first  of  its  own  rules,  not 
to  speak  of  God's  Word.  Every  day  new  altars,  endow- 
ments, and  endless  numbers  of  idolatrous  pilgrimages 
were  established,  to  the  great  pleasure  of  the  clergy, 
who  threw  into  their  bottomless  sack  all  that  the  common 
man  as  well  as  the  noble  possessed.  Whereupon  there 
was  great  complaint  on  all  sides."  ' 

*  Bullinger,  Kcformationsgcschichte,  i.,  3. 


An  Historical  Survey  29 

BulHnger's  description  of  the  condition  of  the  laity 
is  so  well  confirmed  by  contemporary  authorities 
previously  quoted  that  one  is  obliged  to  give  credit 
to  this  account  of  the  state  of  the  Church. 

Positions  in  the  Church  were  regarded  as  property, 
and  very  naturally,  too,  since  the  appointee  was 
obliged  to  buy  the  right  of  preferment.  Pastorates 
and  canonries  could  be  obtained  from  the  papal 
court  on  the  payment  of  a  specified  portion  of  the 
revenues  of  the  place.  Positions  were  rated  ac- 
cording to  a  regular  tariff,  and  matters  went  so  far 
that  candidates  bought  the  right  to  succeed  to  a 
charge  before  it  was  vacant,  and  these  rights  became 
an  object  of  speculation  in  the  hands  of  dealers. 
Such  persons  were  called  courtesans,  because  they 
lived  by  favours  received  from  the  court  of  Rome. 
The  class  included  both  foreigners  sent  thither  to 
occupy  livings  and  native  Swiss  who  were  recipients 
of  papal  appointments. 

An  unconscious  revelation  of  the  condition  of 
affairs  is  found  in  the  defence  of  one  of  these 
courtesans  against  the  charges  of  the  Federal  Diet. 
Heinrich  Goldli,  a  Swiss  citizen,  v/as  a  member  of 
the  papal  guard,  and  was  accused  of  dishonesty  in 
his  dealings  in  livings.  He  refutes  the  charge  by 
showing  that  he  had  a  legal  title  in  every  one  of  his 
transactions.  A  few  of  his  own  statements  will  show 
how  these  things  were  regarded. 

"  It  is  true  I  have  in  time  past  taken  up  livings  and 
have  requested  them  of  the  Pope.  I  serve  the  Pope  for 
no  other  cause,  nor  have  I  any  other  reward  or  wage 


30  Huldreich  Zwingli 

from  the  Pope,  neither  I  nor  others  of  his  Holiness'  serv- 
ants, except  such  livings  as  happen  to  fall  vacant  in 
the  Pope's  month,  which  his  Holiness  presents  to  us, 
every  one  in  his  own  country.  ...  I  hope  that  al- 
though I  have  made  contracts  or  agreements  regarding 
livings  Vt^hich  I  have  lawfully  received  from  his  Holiness 
the  Pope  for  my  services  over  against  an  evil  day,  I 
have  had  the  power  and  right  to  do  so,  so  that  I  may  act 
as  I  please  with  mine  own  and  may  gain  mine  own 
benefit  and  advantage." 

No  one  ought  to  charge  him  with  fraudulent 
dealing,  for 

"  I  have  never  in  my  life  surrendered  anything  from 
which  I  have  had  profit  without  I  have  given  written 
evidence  and  laid  myself  under  written  obligation,  so 
that  in  case  it  should  be  disputed  by  anybody,  and  I 
failed  to  protect  him  with  my  title  and  at  my  own  ex- 
pense, in  the  holding  of  the  living,  I  should  be  in  duty 
bound  to  pay  back  all  costs  and  damages,  as  well  as  all 
that  I  have  received  from  him." 

"  In  regard  to  the  third  article,  that  I  have  sold  livings 
in  the  same  way  that  horses  are  sold  at  Zurzach,  I  have 
never  in  all  my  life  sold  a  living  or  bought  it  in  this  way, 
for  that  is  simony,  and  whoever  buys  and  sells  livings 
ought  to  be  deprived  of  them — but  I  have,  when  I  have 
delivered  over  a  living,  by  permission  of  his  Holiness, 
demanded  and  taken  the  costs  to  which  I  have  been  put, 
and  also  have  caused  a  yearly  pension  to  be  allowed  me 
out  of  the  living,  a  thing  which  is  permitted  me  by  the 
Pope,  and  concerning  which  I  have  my  bulls,  letters,  and 
seals,  for  this  is  a  common  custom  among  the  clergy." 

In  reply  to  the  threat  of  the  Diet  that  he  should 


An  Historical  Survey  31 

be  forbidden  to  hold  any  more  livings  in  Switzer- 
land, Goldli  hopes  that  his  legal  rights  will  be  re- 
spected, that  certain  appointments  will  be  left  for 
him  to  live  on,  and  mentions  specifically  several  re- 
servations which  have  recently  cost  him  large  sums, 
and  for  which  he  expects  damages  and  remuneration. 

"  Furthermore,  the  Pope  has  given  me  the  reservation 
of  the  provostship  of  Zurzach,  so  that  when  the  present 
provost,  Peter  Attenhofer,  shall  die,  this  provostship 
shall  fall  to  me.  I  have  also  for  this  the  letter  and  seal, 
and  have  paid  the  annates,  as  the  first  fruits  are  called, 
to  the  camera  apostolica."  ' 

Goldli  declared  later  that  the  purchase  of  this  ex- 
pectation had  cost  him  350  ducats. 

This  appeal  for  justice  gives  unconsciously  the 
state  of  opinion  and  practice  in  the  appointment  of 
the  clergy.  The  authorities  were  aroused  by  the 
extent  of  the  transactions  of  one  man,  but  public 
sentiment  does  not  seem  to  have  been  greatly 
offended  in  general  at  the  purchase  of  preferment 
in  the  Church.  Zwingli  himself  paid  over  a  hundred 
gulden  to  this  Goldli  before  he  would  let  him  have 
the  living  at  Glarus,  which  Goldli  claimed  in  virtue 
of  his  papal  letter  of  investiture. 

Switzerland  and  the  Papacy 

The  relations  of  the  Church  in  Switzerland  to  the 
papacy  deserve  special  attention,  for  the  conditions 
differed  much  from  the  state  of  things  in  Germany. 
For  a  long  time  the  popes  had  held  the  Swiss  in 

•  Oechsli,  Quillenbitch,  ii.,  504. 


32  Huldreich  Zwingli 

high  esteem.  This  was  due  in  general  to  the  doc- 
trinal faithfuhiess  of  the  mountaineers,  and  in  par- 
ticular to  the  devotion  with  which  the  Swiss  had 
recently  supported  the  political  and  military  policy 
of  the  papacy.  When  Julius  II.  entered  into  the 
contest  with  the  other  Powers  for  the  possession  of 
Northern  Italy  he  found  need  for  mercenary  troops, 
and  applied  to  the  Swiss  for  aid.  Through  the  per- 
suasions of  an  energetic  Swiss  Bishop,  Matthias 
Schinner  of  Sitten,  the  confederates  came  to  the 
help  of  the  Pope  with  a  contingent  of  men.  They 
were  under  the  impression  that  it  was  to  be  a  holy 
war  for  the  preservation  of  the  Church.  When 
they  were  undeceived  in  regard  to  the  objects  of 
the  campaign  the  Swiss  were  with  difficulty  per- 
suaded to  go  into  the  war,  but  finally  marched  into 
Italy  in  1510  and  15 12  and  performed  wonders  of 
valour.  The  Pope  not  only  paid  for  these  services, 
but,  as  a  token  of  his  pleasure,  presented  the  con- 
federates with  a  golden  sword  and  a  richly  em- 
broidered ducal  cap,  as  symbols  of  their  military 
and  political  sovereignty,  and  granted  them  the  title 
of  "  Protectors  of  the  Freedom  of  the  Church." 

The  Swiss  came  out  of  these  wars  with  eyes 
opened  to  the  worldly  ambitions  of  the  popes,  and 
their  successes  were  followed  by  all  that  train  of 
evils  described  above  under  the  subject  of  mercenary 
service.  They  gave  less  heed  to  the  requests  of  the 
papacy,  and  when  Leo  X.  in  15 iS  asked  for  twelve 
thousand  men  for  a  crusade  against  the  Turks,  the 
confederates  granted  only  ten  thousand,  and  said  if 
more    were    needed    they    would    send    back   two 


An  Historical  Survey  33 

thousand  priests  to  fill  up  the  quota.  Although,  in 
fact,  these  troops  were  not  sent  out,  as  no  crusade 
took  place,  the  reply  shows  the  independent  attitude 
of  the  Swiss. 

In  ecclesiastical  government  Switzerland  enjoyed 
an  unusual  measure  of  freedom.  The  people  were 
accustomed  to  manage  their  own  affairs  and  resented 
interference  from  the  clergy  in  secular  matters. 
Ever  since  the  fourteenth  century  they  had  been 
gradually  limiting  the  field  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdic- 
tion, and  the  clergy  were  for  the  most  part  subject 
to  the  ordinary  tribunals.  This  freedom  was  not 
reached  without  protest,  and  the  struggle  was  still 
going  on.  Disputes  with  the  Church  authorities  oc- 
curred from  time  to  time,  particularly  in  Zurich  and 
Bern.  In  the  latter  State  the  government  was  in  fre- 
quent strife  with  its  bishop,  and  usually  got  the  bet- 
ter of  him.  At  the  same  time  this  independence  was 
accompanied  with  strong  respect  for  the  doctrinal 
authority  of  the  Church  and  much  religious  fervour, 
as  may  be  seen  in  the  many  new  foundations  in 
honour  of  the  saints,  and  the  abundant  pilgrimages. 
This  stands  out  in  curious  relief  with  the  loose  moral 
conduct  complained  of  at  the  end  of  the  century, 
but  the  two  things  are  not  incompatible. 

In  the  foregoing  circumstances  we  may  see  reasons 
why  Switzerland  had  never  felt  the  heavy  hand  of 
the  Inquisition  and  why  the  popes  were  not  severe 
with  that  people  at  the  beginning  of  the  reform 
movement.  The  papacy  was  very  desirous  of  keep- 
ing on  good  terms  with  the  Swiss  because  they  were 
valuable  military  and  political  allies. 


34  Huldreich  Zwingli 

Education 

In  depicting  the  darker  side  of  Swiss  society  one 
should  not  leave  the  impression  that  the  tendencies 
of  the  time  were  all  evil.  Reformation  was,  indeed, 
imperatively  demanded  in  political  and  social  life, 
but  there  were  at  the  same  time  evidences  of  intel- 
lectual growth  which  may  not  be  overlooked. 

Educational  advantages  in  Switzerland  were  not 
as  great  as  in  the  surrounding  countries,  but  the 
spirit  of  the  new  learning  had  already  taken  root. 
In  former  times  men  who  were  ambitious  to.  pursue 
wider  studies  were  obliged  to  go  abroad  to  Paris, 
Leipzig,  Vienna,  and  other  foreign  universities,  and 
the  Federal  Government  lightened  this  task  by  ob- 
taining advantageous  treaty  rights  for  students.  In 
1460  the  University  of  Basel  was  opened,  founded 
by  the  munificence  of  the  learned  Pope  Pius  II., 
and  the  Rhine  city  soon  became  a  centre  of  en- 
lightenment for  an  area  much  larger  than  Switzer- 
land. This  did  not  prevent  scholars  from  going 
abroad,  but  at  the  same  time  representative  men 
from  all  parts  of  the  Confederation  were  to  be  found 
on  the  list  of  Basel  students,  and  they  met  here 
distinguished  lecturers  of  both  native  and  foreign 
origin. 

Among  the  Swiss  who  rose  to  prominence  in  the 
world  of  scholarship  may  be  mentioned  Thomas 
Wittenbach,  who  began  to  teach  at  Basel,  in 
1505,  as  professor  of  philology  and  theology.  He 
exerted  a  great  influence  upon  Zwingli.  Heinrich 
Loriti  of  Glarus,   known  to    European  scholars  as 


An  Historical  Survey  35 

"  Glareanus,"  was  one  of  the  greatest  lights  in 
humanistic  studies.  After  15 13  the  great  Erasmus 
made  his  home  in  Basel,  not  for  the  purpose  of  teach- 
ing, but  in  order  to  supervise  the  printing  of  his 
works.  He  became  the  centre  of  a  brilliant  company 
of  men  devoted  to  the  new  learning  and  to  the  criti- 
cism of  existing  religious  institutions.  Few  of  these 
scholars  went  over  to  the  reform  movement  when  it 
came  to  an  absolute  break  from  the  Mother  Church 
but  they  were  tireless  in  exhibiting  the  ignorance 
and  abuses  found  in  it. 

Nor  were  their  voices  confined  to  a  small  circle  of 
hearers,  for  Basel  had  become  one  of  the  great  pub- 
lishing centres  of  Europe.  Printing  made  its  ap- 
pearance here  not  long  after  its  discovery,  and  was 
so  far  advanced  in  147 1  that  a  strike  of  typesetters 
occurred.'  At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury the  press  of  Froben  was  issuing  editions  of  the 
classics  and  of  the  works  of  the  Humanists  which 
have  themselves  become  classic  in  the  history  of 
typography.  Printing  was  introduced  into  various 
Swiss  towns  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  but  nowhere  attained  the  celebrity  of  Basel. 
In  Zurich  the  press  could  not  have  been  very  im- 
portant, since  the  oldest  known  printing  dates  from 
the  year  1504.  The  first  substantial  publication 
began  under  Froschauer  in  1521,  with  translations 
of  Erasmus,jnto  the  vernacular,  and  with  the  issue 
of  the  writings  of  Zwingli.  This  form  of  the  dif- 
fusion of  knowledge  was,  however,  appreciated  by 

'"Court  Records  of  Basel,"  published  in  Easier  Taschenbuck, 
1863,  p.  250,  and  Oechsli,  Quellenbuch,  ii.,  417. 


36  Huldreich  Zwingli 

the  educated  classes  of  Switzerland,  and  as  wide  use 
of  it  was  made  as  the  processes  of  the  time  would 
allow. 

High  schools  preparatory  to  the  University  were 
found  in  a  few  places  previous  to  the  Reformation. 
At  Bern  the  Humanist  who  was  known  as  "  Johan- 
nes a  Lapide,"  returning  from  a  career  of  teaching 
in  Basel  and  Paris,  opened  a  school  for  study  of  the 
humanities  in  the  light  of  the  new  learning.  In 
this  same  school  taught  also  Heinrich  Wolflin,  or 
"  Lupulus,"  an  enthusiastic  student  of  classical 
antiquity,  who  had  travelled  in  Italy  and  Greece, 
and  who  was  himself  a  poet  of  no  mean  ability. 
Oswald  Myconius  at  Basel  was  a  teacher  of  this 
enlightened  order  who  later  transferred  his  activity 
to  Zurich. 

Of  primary  education  not  much  can  be  said. 
Schools  were  sometimes  conducted  by  the  religious 
houses  and  cathedral  foundations,  but  a  large  part 
of  elementary  teaching  was  left  to  individual  enter- 
prise. The  lack  of  text-books  made  instruction  very 
difficult,  but  in  this  respect  all  countries  were  alike. 
Although  municipal  authorities  exercised  a  super- 
vision over  education,  public  schools  had  not  come 
into  existence.  Since  teachers  depended  on  their  fees 
for  their  pay,  the  rural  districts  and  the  smaller  towns 
naturally  suffered,  and  illiteracy  was  widely  preval- 
ent. That  private  teachers  took  pupils  of  all  ages 
for  pay  may  be  seen  from  a  schoolmaster's  sign 
which  was  painted  by  Holbein  in  15 16,  and  which 
hangs  to-day  in  the  Museum  of  Basel.  Freely 
translated,  it  reads: 


,  tZ  -p^  j3  >=>  J-    P3    ^*^ 

CS   Q  C=    —^   <=>  ^  x=- 
»  p  Pes  c>^  £  |g 

<— I      _      '— ^    J-—      —      C      ,— .    '•—! 

n  =;h  i  :=  =  ;a^ 
■E  E  ^  £-p^  fe 

r  H  p  fa) 


i  -S"  5 

5  S  c2  ^  o)-S^   t- 


J=3 


C3  •—• 


<=a  •*-   ^  9 


=   S   -   ^ 
»-4  ^  ^   =: 


3;a(j§  ^  &  p  3  5 


•^     JS    jrs 


t  f^.     ^     t-.  U—t     ^ 


■^\B  R  A  n 

OF  Ti' 

l/NIVERSfTY 

\  OF 


An  Historical  Survey  37 

"  If  there  is  anyone  here  who  desires  to  learn  to  write 
and  read  German  in  the  shortest  possible  time  that  any- 
body can  conceive  of,  so  that  anyone  who  does  not  know 
even  a  letter  beforehand  can  soon  understand,  so  that 
he  can  learn  to  write  down  and  read  his  accounts  for 
himself,  and  whoever  is  so  stupid  that  he  cannot  learn, 
I  will  teach  for  nothing  and  take  no  reward,  whoever 
they  may  be,  citizen  or  workingman,  women  or  misses  : 
—  whoever  desires  this,  come  in  here  and  he  will  be 
taught  for  a  reasonable  price,  the  boys  and  girls  by  the 
quarter  according  to  the  usual  custom." 

The  pictures  which  accompany  this  invitation 
show  a  schoolroom  in  which  the  master  and  his  wife 
are  teaching  small  children,  with  the  birch  rod  ever 
in  hand.  On  the  other  side  of  the  sign  adults  are 
apparently  learning  German  "  in  the  shortest  pos- 
sible time." 

A  consideration  of  this  period  leads  to  the  con- 
clusion that,  while  brilliant  lights  were  appearing  in 
the  literary  world,  and  a  great  interest  was  awaken- 
ing in  the  better  classes  for  classical  learning  and 
the  Scriptures,  the  facilities  for  educating  the  people 
were  very  inadequate.  There  was  room  for  the  im- 
provements which  were  introduced  by  the  Swiss 
Reformers.  Yet  the  educational  movement  began 
before  the  religious  revival  and  was  a  cause  of  the 
Reformation  rather  than  a  result.  Myconius,  the 
schoolmaster,  and  Utinger,  the  studious  canon  of 
the  Great  Minster,  were  influential  Humanists  in 
Zurich,  and  helped  to  bring  about  the  call  of  Zwingli 
to  that  city. 

The  fine  arts  flourished  in  Switzerland,  though 


38  Huldreich  Zwingli 

not  to  the  same  degree  as  in  Italy  or  France.  The 
Renaissance  produced  several  notable  artists,  of 
whom  Holbein  is  the  greatest.  It  was  the  decorat- 
ive arts,  however,  which  attracted  the  most  atten- 
tion, for  these  served  the  luxury  which  followed 
new-gained  wealth.  From  this  period  date  many 
fine  specimens  of  stained  glass,  carved  furniture, 
ornamental  pottery,  and  tile-work  which  do  honour 
to  the  makers  and  their  patrons.  Both  public  and 
private  buildings  show  evidences  of  taste  in  decora- 
tion as  well  as  desire  for  display. 

The  Cities 

A  study  of  the  reform  movement  in  Switzerland 
shows  that  the  chief  centres  of  agitation  were  the 
cities.  Furthermore,  the  governments  of  the  cities 
had  a  deciding  voice  in  the  acceptance  of  changes 
in  the  organisation  of  the  Church,-  and  even  in 
changes  in  doctrine.  Hence  a  word  is  in  place  as 
to  the  nature  of  this  civic  life  and  the  character  of 
the  authorities  which  had  such  important  questions 
to  decide. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  Switzer- 
land contained  numerous  flourishing  towns,  but  for 
size  and  activity  they  must  be  measured  by  the 
standards  of  that  age.  From  our  point  of  view  city 
life  was  contained  in  very  small  space.  This  is  due 
not  only  to  the  fact  that  the  population  was  smaller, 
but  also  because  of  the  fortification  which  was  im- 
perative in  the  Middle  Ages.  The  drawings  and 
engravings    of     the     period    represent     the    towns 


An  Historical  Survey  39 

surrounded  with  walls  and  moats.  These  were  still 
necessary  according  to  the  existing  methods  of 
warfare,  for  the  larger  systems  of  defence  of  our  day 
had  not  yet  begun,  and  any  town  might  consider 
itself  liable  to  attack  at  some  time.  Even  if  certain 
places  were  no  longer  considered  strategic  points  of 
importance,  nevertheless,  their  ramparts  remained 
to  form  a  kind  of  boundary  of  municipal  life.  In 
many  of  them  the  walls  are  standing  in  part  or  in 
whole  to-day.  At  Lucerne  one  side  of  the  city  is 
still  flanked  by  picturesque  towers  and  battlements, 
and  in  many  other  cities  ponderous  gateways  and 
fragments  of  fortifications  deep  in  the  interior  of  the 
town  show  the  lines  of  its  ancient  defence  and  the 
former  limits  of  its  corporate  existence. 

These  various  necessities,  as  well  as  the  popular 
taste  of  that  time,  obliged  people  to  live  in  what 
we  should  now  consider  contracted  quarters.  The 
streets  were  narrow  and  winding.  The  houses 
were  often  large,  but  their  rooms  were  small  and 
low.  The  better  classes  enjoyed  a  high  degree  of 
domestic  decoration,  but  the  citizens  as  a  whole  ap- 
peared to  be  satisfied  with  a  small  measure  of  light 
and  air.  The  sanitary  condition  of  houses  and 
streets  still  lacked  enlightened  attention,  although 
cities  were  generally  careful  to  provide  good  water 
which  the  people  might  get  for  themselves  from  the 
public  fountains.  Public  works  were  to  a  consider- 
able degree  bounded  by  the  necessity  of  maintaining 
the  fortifications,  even  if  there  had  been  a  demand 
for  greater  improvements.  Hence  the  civic  life  was 
circumscribed,  and  one  is  sometimes  tempted  to  say 


40  Huldreich  Zwingli 

that  the  intellectual  horizon  of  the  population  did 
not  extend  much  beyond  the  four  walls  of  their  city. 

This,  however,  would  be  an  unfair  estimate,  and 
a  confusion  of  intelligence  with  civic  pride.  These 
stone-bound  towns  manifested  the  highest  degree 
of  local  patriotism,  and  were  deeply  intent  on  build- 
ing up  their  own  material  welfare.  If  this  appears 
at  times  to  be  selfish,  it  is  only  a  part  of  that  in- 
dividualism which  we  have  already  seen  in  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  States  of  Switzerland.  The  cities 
were  the  centres  of  these  States  and  their  policies. 

Bern,  Basel,  and  eventually  Geneva  became  cen- 
tres of  the  reform  movement,  but  in  connection 
with  Zwingli  the  city  of  Zurich  is  the  more  import- 
ant to  consider.  The  characteristics  of  the  popula- 
tion, their  occupations,  and  their  governments  were 
different  in  each  of  these  places  and  all  had  their 
influence  on  the  change,  but  Zurich  gave  the  deter- 
mining impulses  at  the  start. 

Zurich 

The  situation  of  Zurich  was  favourable  to  the 
development  of  new  ideas.  Seated  at  the  head  of 
a  lake  which  was  on  one  of  the  international  routes 
of  travel,  it  had  been,  all  through  the  Middle  Ages, 
a  point  which  came  in  contact  with  the  world  at 
large.  Its  central  location  in  Switzerland  brought 
it  early  into  the  growing  Confederation,  and  from 
the  first  it  was  an  influential  power  in  its  councils. 
It  came  to  be  a  frequent  meeting-place  of  the  Fed- 
eral Diet,  and  as  it  was  also  an  agreeable  city  to  live 


An  Historical  Survey  41 

in,  it  became  the  habitual  residence  of  many  ambas- 
sadors of  foreign  Powers.  They  located  there  in 
order  to  be  accessible  to  the  authorities  of  Zurich 
and  to  be  within  easy  reach  of  the  Confederation  as 
a  whole. 

This  imparted  to  the  life  in  Zurich  a  certain  viva- 
city which  was  not  found  in  many  other  places.  The 
presence  of  the  foreign  legations  with  their  retinues 
of  servants  gave  a  stimulus  to  the  trade  of  the  city 
and  to  the  life  of  its  inhabitants.  The  taverns  and 
public  houses  were  very  numerous.  The  guild- 
houses  were  fine  specimens  of  the  architecture  of 
that  period,  as  one  may  still  see  in  a  measure  at  the 
present  day.  There  was  contact  with  the  outer 
world,  and,  consequently,  a  breadth  of  ideas  which 
would  have  been  found  to  so  high  a  degree  in  no 
other  Swiss  town,  unless  it  were  Basel.  From  these 
facts  we  may  explain  two  important  phenomena 
in  the  history  of  Switzerland.  We  may  see  why 
Zurich  became  the  pioneer  in  religious  innovation 
and  in  political  neutrality  toward  foreign  Powers. 

Since  Zwingli  brought  about  reform  in  the  Church 
by  means  of  the  civil  authorities,  the  form  of  govern- 
ment in  Zurich  should  be  briefly  recapitulated.  The 
city  was  a  municipal  republic,  but,  although  all  citi- 
zens were  given  theoretically  a  voice  in  its  manage- 
ment, it  was  by  no  means  a  democracy,  like  the  rural 
cantons.  There  were  two  general  classes  of  people : 
noble  and  non-noble  ;  of  which  the  latter  were 
naturally  the  more  numerous.  All  male  citizens 
were,  however,  classified  into  guilds  according  to 
their  occupations.     The  aristocracy,  including  both 


42  Huldreich  Zwingli 

nobility  and  rich  men  of  affairs,  had  a  special  guild 
of  their  own,  and  the  trades  were  grouped  in  twelve 
others. 

The  government  of  the  city  was  vested  in  a 
burgomaster  and  two  councils  —  the  Great  and  the 
Small.  The  smaller  council  contained  fifty  mem- 
bers, but  only  one  half  of  them  served  at  a  time. 
In  fact  there  were  two  burgomasters  elected  every 
year,  each  serving  six  months  at  a  time,  but  the 
vacating  burgomaster  sat  in  the  councils  till  the 
close  of  the  year.  The  members  of  the  Small  Coun- 
cil were  all  delegates  from  the  guilds  except  six 
councilmen  at  large  and  the  two  burgomasters  who 
acted  6'x  officio.  This  may  be  called  the  ordinary 
working  administrative  council  of  the  city,  the 
twenty-five  who  acted  at  any  one  time  not  being  an 
excessive  number  for  executive  business.' 

The  Great  Council  was  the  real  legislature  of 
Zurich,, since  all  matters  of  larger  importance  were 
left  to  its  decision.  The  constitution  of  this  body 
had  been  fixed  in  the  revolution  of  1489  and  re- 
mained the  same,  not  only  through  Zwingli's  time, 
but  down  to  the  year  1798.  It  was  also  called  the 
Council  of  Two  Hundred,  but  the  exact  number  was 


'  The  records  of  Zurich  contain  the  names  of  the  members  of  this 
council  from  the  twelfth  century  onward.  So  if  desired  one  might 
find  exactly  what  men  were  in  office  in  Zwingli's  time,  and  who 
helped  to  bring  in  the  Reformation.  In  the  library  of  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University  is  a  large  folio  MS.  written  about  the  year  1578, 
and  entitled  "  Vom  altesten  Regiment  der  Stadt  Zurich,  so  viel  man 
wissen  mag."  This  is  a  copy  of  the  official  register  and  gives,  along 
with  many  historical  documents,  the  names  of  mayors  and  council- 
men  "  as  far  back  as  anyone  knows." 


An  Historical  Survey  43 

212.  It  contained  the  two  parts  of  the  Small  Coun- 
cil, eighteen  delegates  from  the  "  Constaffel,"  or 
guild  of  the  aristocracy,  and  twelve  from  each  of 
the  twelve  other  guilds.  The  two  burgomasters 
made  up  the  number. 

This  Council  was  the  highest  source  of  authority 
in  the  State,  and  was  empowered  to  make  laws  or 
even  change  the  constitution  without  consulting  the 
people.  As  we  have  seen,  there  was  no  general 
election  of  members,  but  rather  a  representation  of 
groups,  which  appears  at  first  sight  to  be  either 
aristocratic  or  exclusive.  But  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  the  great  majority  of  the  men  of  Zurich 
were  small  tradesmen  or  artisans,  and  that  all  of 
them  were  included  in  one  or  another  of  the  guilds. 
The  leadership  in  these  societies  may  have  fallen 
at  times  into  the  hands  of  a  few  men,  but,  on  the 
whole,  this  legislature  was  a  fairly  representative 
body.  Zurich  was  a  small  city,  and  a  council  of 
two  hundred  members  chosen  out  of  a  body  of 
voters  probably  not  much  exceeding  one  thousand 
would  give  a  fair  chance  for  an  expression  of  the 
popular  will. 

These  facts  are  important  to  observe  when  changes 
in  the  forms  of  worship  take  place  in  Zurich.  It 
was  the  Great  Council  which  authorised  the  various 
reforms.  When  Zwingli  held  his  famous  disputa- 
tion in  1523,  it  was  in  the  City  Hall  and  in  the 
presence  of  the  Two  Hundred,  and  they,  having 
been  convinced  that  he  was  right,  passed  ordinances 
to  put  the  new  ideas  into  effect. 

The  situation  is  even  better  understood  when  one 


44  Huldreich  Zwingli 

examines  into  the  functions  of  the  Council  in  detail. 
Innumerable  questions  came  before  it,  not  only 
respecting  the  government  of  the  city,  but  also  in 
connection  with  feudal  possessions  in  the  canton. 
These  latter  involved  not  only  the  secular  adminis- 
tration, but  in  nineteen  country  parishes  the  right 
to  appoint  the  parish  priest.*  The  Council,  there- 
fore, was  accustomed  to  handle  ecclesiastical  matters 
in  a  manner  more  intimate  than  merely  supervisory. 

For  many  years  the  government  had  been  requir- 
ing strict  accounts  from  the  monasteries  and  con- 
vents of  the  whole  territory,  and  in  many  cases  had 
appointed  managers  to  oversee  their  properties. 
The  Council  was  also  accustomed  to  regulate  the 
private  conduct  of  ministers  by  punishing  evil-doers 
among  them,  and  occasionally  went  so  far  as  to 
order  a  priest  to  perform  religious  functions  which 
he  had  denied.  Zurich  was  particularly  set  on  re- 
stricting the  jurisdiction  of  the  clergy,  and  repeated 
cases  just  in  this  period  show  that  the  government 
did  not  hesitate  to  challenge  the  so-called  immunities 
of  the  Church." 

These  facts  account  for  the  method  pursued  by 
Zwingli,  and  make  the  reform  movement  quite 
different  from  that  of  Luther  in  one  respect.  The 
latter  also  depended  on  the  civil  authorities,  but  he 
appealed  to  the  princes  of  Germany,  who  were  little 


'  Wunderli,  Waldman,  p.  157  ;  Appendix,"  View  of  Zurich  in  1520." 

*  "  Egli,  Zlircherische  Kirchenpolitik  von  Waldman  bis  Zwingli," 

yahrb.  fiir  Schweize7-geschichte,  Bd.  xxi.  ;  Remley,  "The  Relation 

of  State  and  Church  in  Zurich,  15 19-1523,"  Leipzig  Dissertation, 

1895. 


An  Historical  Survey  45 

monarchs  in  their  several  provinces.  Here  it  was 
the  people  or  their  representatives  who  authorised 
the  Reformation.  As  much  might  be  said  of  the 
cities,  or  of  the  rural  cantons  which  remained  stead- 
fast in  the  Roman  faith  —  in  all  cases  the  people 
had  much  to  say  in  the  decision. 

At  this  time  Zurich  contained  between  $000  and 
7000  inhabitants  within  its  walls,  and  controlled 
thirty-five  dependent  districts  outside.  Out  of  the 
combined  population  the  State  could  muster  about 
10,000  men  for  war.  In  1470  there  were  about  950 
households  on  the  tax  list  of  the  city  proper,'  and 
about  52,000  inhabitants  in  the  whole  canton. 
These  figures  are  large  only  in  comparison  with 
other  States  of  Switzerland.  Contemporaries  con- 
sidered Zurich  the  most  important  of  them  all. 

Within  the  city  a  large  amount  of  property  was  in 
the  hands  of  ecclesiastics.  Besides  the  cathedral 
chapter  of  thirty-four  canons  there  were  three  parish 
churches  and  some  twelve  chapels.  The  Benedictine 
convent,  Fraumiinster  Abbey,  had  been  a  retreat  for 
decayed  gentlewomen,  but  was  no  longer  rich  nor 
influential.  There  were  also  three  convents  of 
mendicant  orders  and  three  monasteries  for  the  same 
class  for  men. 

Of  these  bodies  the  cathedral  chapter  stood  in 
better  relations  with  the  government  and  the  citizens. 
Some  of  the  canons  were  scholarly  men,  others  de- 
sired at  least  to  be  considered  such,  and  the  rest  of 


'  Wunderii,  Hans  Waldman,  p.  147,  Appendix  with  statistical 
tables ;  Bonstetten,  Descriptio  Helvetica,  in  Quellcn  zur  Schw. 
Gesck.,  xiii.,  254,  etc. 


46  Huldreich  Zwingli 

them  were  influential  in  one  way  or  another,  although 
not  regarded  as  models  of  piety.  The  Augustinians 
and  Capucines  were  also  on  good  terms  with  the 
people,  but  the  Preaching  Friars  were  disliked.  They 
had  accumulated  a  large  amount  of  real  estate  and 
houses,  and  were  consequently  hated  as  capitalists 
and  hard  taskmasters.' 

Besides  these  intramural  establishments  there  were 
numerous  monasteries  and  chapters  scattered  about 
the  territory  of  Zurich,^  all  of  which  would  be 
affected  by  any  change  in  the  established  order  of 
worship.  Church-building  was  not  neglected,  for 
some  important  restorations  date  from  this  epoch. 
The  picturesque  Wasscrkirclie  was  built  up  new  at 
great  expense,  and  the  tall,  pointed  spires  which 
formerly  stood  on  the  cathedral  were  added  during 
the  same  period.  Some  of  the  best  village  churches 
of  the  canton  were  built  about  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  Much  money  was  given  for  re- 
ligious foundations,  masses,  and  benevolences,  and 
much  time  was  spent  in  local  pilgrimages.  Shrines 
on  the  Zurichberg,  in  Leimbach,  Altstetten,  Kiiss- 
nacht,  and  other  places  in  the  vicinity  had  constant 
visitors.  The  abbey  of  Einsiedeln  was  resorted  to 
by  hundreds  of  citizens  and  strangers  at  special 
seasons,    so   that   the    ceremonies   of   religion    were 

^  In  1467  the  clergy  all  told  owned  103  houses  in  the  city,  and  in 
1470  the  clerical  real  estate  in  the  canton  was  assessed  at  82,900 
gulden  out  of  a  total  of  506,500  gulden. 

'^  In  1470  there  are  14  on  the  tax  list.  In  1520  the  number  of 
foundations  is  the  same.  The  number  of  parishes  was  103,  with 
about  150  pastors  and  numerous  chaplains  (Wunderli,  Waldman, 
p.  158). 


An  Historical  Survey  47 

constantly  in  view.  Yet  the  social  condition  of 
Zurich  was  bad.  Idleness,  luxury,  and  contentions 
increased  in  spite  of  laws  and  magistrates. 

In  looking  over  the  two  or  three  decades  which 
introduce  the  sixteenth  century  it  is  seen  to  be  a 
period  of  great  vitality.  Energy,  life,  movement, 
have  seized  the  people.  They  are  conscious  that 
some  things  are  wrong  and  remedies  have  begun  to 
be  applied,  but  this  energy  itself  has  been  led  into 
the  wrong  path.  The  arts  of  war  appealed  to  the 
manly  instinct  but  brought  corruption  in  their  train. 
The  triumphs  of  intellect  and  the  conquests  of  the 
new  learning  had  at  first  great  difficulty  in  making 
headway,  because  the  Swiss  were  for  the  time  pre- 
occupied with  things  military  and  in  the  enjoyment 
of  ill-gotten  gains.  Into  this  path  they  had  been 
enticed,  not  only  by  the  powers  of  this  world,  but 
by  the  apostolic  representative  of  the  kingdom  of 
light.  No  single  State  of  Switzerland  was  at  first 
powerful  enough  to  hinder  this  decline,  and  the 
feeble  Federal  Government  met  it  only  with  resolu- 
tions, which  stood  a  moment  unobeyed  and  were 
then  repealed.  It  was  logical,  therefore,  that  the 
movement  which  bears  the  name  of  Zwingli  should 
begin  with  an  attack  upon  political  corruption  and 
appeal  to  the  patriotic  sentiment  of  the  free-born 
Swiss  citizen. 

It  remained  for  one  man  and  one  city  to  start 
the  reaction  in  earnest.  The  result  was  the  Refor- 
mation. 


( 


^    OF  T>  - 

UNIVER  ■ 

Of 


HULDREICH  ZWINGLI 


CHAPTER   I 

CHILDHOOD   AND   YOUTH 
1 484- 1  506 

HULDREICH  ZWINGLI,  the  Reformer  of 
German  Switzerland,  was  born  on  Thursday, 
January  i,  1484,  in  a  house  which  still  stands  in 
well-nigh  perfect  preservation.  It  is  in  the  hamlet 
called  Lysighaus,  t.  e.,  Elizabeth  house,  ten  min- 
utes' walk  from  the  parish  church  of  Wildhaus,  or, 
as  it  was  then  called,  Wildenhaus,  a  village  in  the 
Toggenburg  Valley,  in  Switzerland,  at  its  highest 
point,  3600  feet  above  sea-level,  and  about  forty 
miles  east  by  south  of  Zurich.  It  is  perhaps  twenty- 
five  feet  deep  by  thirty  feet  wide,  and,  like  many 
other  Swiss  peasant  houses,  has  a  peaked  roof  and 
overhanging  eaves.  It  is  two  stories  high,  has  a 
hall  running  through  the  ground  floor,  and  the  large 
room  on  the  right  as  you  enter  is  shown  as  that  in 
which  the  great  event  occurred.' 


'  Incidental  proof  of  the  year  of  Zwingli's  birth  is  afforded  by  his 
remark  in  a  letter  written  on  September  17,   1531  :   "I  am  forty- 
eight"  (viii.,  644).     It  is  here  mentioned  once  for  all  that  the  refer- 
ences thus  given  are  always  by  volume  and  page  to  the  edition  of 
4  49 


50  Huldreich  Zwingll  [1484- 

ZwingH  was  not  born  in  poverty,  as  his  future 
fellow  Reformer  Luther  had  been  seven  weeks  be- 
fore, at  Eisleben,  twenty-five  miles  west  of  Halle, 
in  Saxony;  nor  of  common  people,  nor  was  he 
raised  in  the  school  of  adversity.  On  the  contrary, 
the  family  were  in  comfortable  circumstances,  and 
were  prominent  in  their  community.  The  carved 
rafters  in  their  living-room  bear  silent  testimony  to 
this  fact,  as  the  poorer  people  did  not  have  them. 
But  we  are  not  left  to  that  sort  of  evidence. 
Zwingli's  father  was,  as  his  father's  father  had  been, 
the  Aiiunann,  i.  e.,  chief  magistrate,  or  bailiff,  of 
the  village,  and  his  father's  brother  was  the  village 
priest  ;  while  his  mother's  brother  Johann  became 
abbot  of  the  Benedictine  monastery  of  Fischingen ; 
and  a  near  relative  was  abbot  of  the  Benedictine 
monastery  of  Old  St.  John's,  only  two  miles  west 
from  Wildhaus.'  Further  proof  that  Zwingli's  par- 
ents were  well-to-do  or  could  command  money  is  the 
fact  that  Zwingli  received  about  as  good  an  educa- 
tion as  the  times  afforded,  and  yet  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  his  father  or  other  relatives  had  to  pinch 
themselves  to  bring  this  about. 

Zwingli's  father  was  a  farmer  and  raiser  of  flocks 
and  herds.    Three  of  Zwingli's  younger  brothers  and 


Zwingli's  complete  works  in  German  and  Latin,  by  Schuler  and 
Schulthess,  Zurich,  1828-42,  8  vols.,  Supplement,  1861.  But  inas- 
much as  volume  ii.  is  in  3  parts,  and  volume  vi.  is  in  2  parts,  it 
is  needful  also  to  remark  that  the  references  to  those  volumes  are 
to  volume,  part,  and  page,  e.  g.,  ii.,  2,  3,  means  vol.  ii.,  part  2, 
page  3  ;  and  so  in  similar  cases. 

'  See  the   excursus  on    Zwingli's   parents,  uncles,  brothers,  and 
sisters  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 


^-  •^■l«l 


i5o6]  Childhood  and  Youth  51 

two  of  his  older  followed  his  father  in  these  pursuits, 
but  Zwingli  himself  left  home  too  young  to  have  had 
any  practical  acquaintance  with  the  life,  except  per- 
haps for  a  few  months.  The  allusions  he  makes  to  his 
childhood  are  interesting,  and  it  were  good  if  they 
were  more  numerous.  Thus  he  says:  "  We  recog- 
nise the  profound  compassion  of  God  in  that  He 
was  willing  to  have  His  Son,  in  the  tenderness  of 
His  youth,  suffer  poverty  for  our  sakes,  so  that  we, 
instructed  by  our  parents  from  our  earliest  years, 
might  bear  even  with  joyfulness  our  evil  things  and 
deprivation  itself,"  '  Again  he  says:  "  My  grand- 
mother has  often  told  me  a  story  about  the  way 
Peter  and  the  Lord  conducted  themselves  toward 
one  another.  It  seems  that  they  used  to  sleep  in 
the  same  bed.  But  Peter  was  on  the  outside,  and 
every  morning  the  woman  of  the  house  would 
waken  him  by  pulling  his  hair,"  '  Again:  "  When 
I  was  a  child,  if  any  one  said  a  word  against  our 
Fatherland,    I    bristled    up    instantly."^       Again: 

From  boyhood  I  have  shown  so  great  and  eager 
and  sincere  a  love  for  an  honourable  Confederacy 
that  I  trained  myself  diligently  in  every  art  and  dis- 
cipline for  this  end."  * 

Little  Zwingli  was  taught  to  observe  nature,  and 
how  well  he  learned  the  lesson  may  be  concluded 
from  the  following  passage  in  one  of  the  latest  of 
his  treatises,  that  on  Divine  Providence: 

"  Do  not  the  creatures  of  the  race  of  rodents  trumpet 
forth  the  wisdom  and  providence  of  the  Godhead  ?     The 

'  I..  98.  ^  I.,  524.  2 II.,  2,  300.  "  VII.,  237. 


52  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1484- 

hedgehog  with  its  spines  most  cleverly  carries  a  large 
quantity  of  fruit  to  its  dwelling-place,  by  rolling  over  the 
fruit  and  planting  its  spines  in  it.  Alpine  rats,  or  mar- 
mots, which  we  now  call  the  mountain  rats,  station  one 
of  their  number  upon  an  elevation,  that,  as  they  run 
about  intent  upon  their  work,  no  sudden  danger  may 
fall  upon  them  without  his  timely  cry  of  warning,  while 
meantime  the  rest  of  the  band  carry  off  the  softest  hay 
from  all  around.  And  when  they  need  waggons  they 
turn  themselves  into  waggons  by  turns,  one  lying  upon 
his  back  and  holding  fast  with  all  his  feet  the  hay  loaded 
upon  his  belly  and  chest,  while  another  seizes  by  the  tail 
his  comrade  thus  transformed  into  a  chariot,  and  drags 
him  with  the  plunder  to  their  dwelling-place  to  enable 
them  to  sleep  through  the  inclemency  of  the  harsh  winter 
season.  The  squirrel,  dragging  a  broad  bit  of  wood  to 
the  shore  by  its  mouth,  uses  it  as  a  boat  to  cross  the 
water,  hoisting  its  bushy  tail,  and  being  thus  driven  by 
the  favouring  breeze  needs  no  other  sail.  What  word, 
what  speech,  pray,  can  proclaim  the  divine  wisdom  as 
well  as  these  creatures  which  are  among  almost  the 
humblest  of  living  things  ?  And  do  not  things  without 
sensation  bear  witness  that  the  power  and  goodness  and 
vivifying  force  of  the  Godhead  are  ever  with  them  ?  The 
earth,  that  nourishes  all  things,  forgets  the  wounds  in- 
flicted by  hoe  and  plough,  and  refuses  not  to  furnish  rich 
provision;  the  dew  and  rain  so  rouse  and  fill  and  re- 
plenish all  streams,  which  by  their  increase  stay  the  harm 
of  thirst,  that  by  their  wondrous  growth  they  bear  witness 
to  the  presence  of  the  divine  power  and  life.  The  mount- 
ains, dull,  clumsy,  lifeless  mass  that  they  are,  hold  fast 
and  strengthen  the  earth  as  bones  do  the  flesh;  they  bar 
the  way  to  passage  or  make  it  difficult;  though  heavier 
than  the  surface  of  the  earth,  they  swim  upon  it  and 


i5o6]  Childhood  and  Youth  53 

sink  not  in;  do  they  not  proclaim  the  invincible  power 
of  the  Godhead,  and  the  solidity  and  vastness  of  His 
grandeur  ?  "  ' 

The  admiration  of  Swiss  scenery  is  eommonly  said 
to  date  from  Rousseau.  At  all  events,  Zwingli  has 
left  no  record  of  the  fact  that  the  scenery  about 
his  early  home  is  of  the  best  description."  As  he 
stood  on  his  father's  doorstep  he  could  see  the  seven 
jagged  peaks  of  the  Churfirsten  across  the  narrow 
valley,  and  if  he  turned  to  go  to  the  high-road, 
which  then  ran  higher  up  on  the  mountain-side  than 
it  does  now,  he  came  almost  under  the  shadow  of 
the  Sentis;  and  both  these  ranges  are  snow-capped 
even  in  summer.  But  though  not  taught  to  ap- 
preciate such  attractions  any  more  than  other  Swiss 
children,  and  impressed  more  by  the  mountains' 
cold  than  their  beauty,  he  received  in  all  other 
respects  a  good  home  training.  The  fact  that  he 
and  two  of  his  younger  brothers  became  scholars, 
and  his  brother  James  a  monk,  while  he  entered  the 
priesthood,  indicates  the  strong  trend  of  the  family 
ambition  toward  culture  and  piety. 

It  was  natural  that  when  his  father  determined  to 
make  a  priest  out  of  Huldreich  he  should  have  given 
him  over  to  his  brother  for  education.  If  this 
brother   had    been    like    most    priests  —  rooted    in 

'  IV.,  92,  93. 

'  Myconius,  Zwingli's  personal  friend  and  earliest  biographer, 
fancifully  says  :  "  For  my  part,  I  have  more  than  once  thought,  in 
my  simple  mindedness,  that  he  [Zwingli]  drew  some  of  his  heaven- 
liness  directly  from  the  heavens  near  which  he  lived." —  Vita  Zuinglii, 
ed.  Neander,  Berlin,  1841,  p.  3.  This  biography  is  hereafter  quoted 
merely  as  Myconius,  giving  the  page  of  this  edition. 


54  Huldreich  Zwingli  [14^4- 

conservatism — he  would  have  had  him  taught  by  the 
old-style  teachers.  But  in  the  providence  of  God 
he  was  a  friend  of  the  movement  away  from  scho- 
lasticism, which  was  gathering  fresh  force  every  day. 
Zwingli  might  have  been  as  good  a  Toggenburger, 
as  loyal  a  Swiss,  and  as  holy  a  man,  as  he  became, 
even  if  he  had  been  trained  on  the  old  lines,  but  not 
the  broad-minded  patriot,  theologian,  and  Reformer 
if  he  had  been.  It  is  therefore  not  too  much  to  say 
that  we  owe  the  Zwingli  of  history  to  the  fact  that  his 
father's  brother  was  a  friend  of  the  New  Learning. 
In  1487,  Bartholomew  Zwingli  removed  from 
Wildhaus  to  Wesen,  a  town  on  the  western  end  of 
the  now  little  visited  but  grand  and  striking  Lake 
of  Walenstadt.  It  was  only  a  matter  of  a  dozen 
miles  to  the  soutli-west  of  Wildhaus,  but  the  brist- 
ling Churfirsten  came  between.'  Wesen  was  the 
market-town  of  the  district,  and  Bartholomew  had 
scarcely  been  inducted  into  his  rectory  before  he 
was  promoted  to  be  dekan,  or  superintendent,  which 
made  him  a  person  of  considerable  importance  and 
influence."     In  the  rectory  at  Wesen  Zwingli  lived 

'  There  is  a  rough  path  leading  from  Wildhaus  over  the  Kiiser- 
ruck,  7435  feet  above  sea-level,  in  six  hours  to  Walenstadt  on  the 
east  end  of  the  Lake  of  Walenstadt.  Doubtless  it  was  by  this  path 
that  Bartholomew  and,  later,  Zwingli  himself  came  to  Walenstadt, 
whence  a  ten-mile  row  would  bring  them  to  Wesen.  Cf.  Baedeker, 
ed.  1897,  p.  46. 

*  E.  Egli  has  published  several  documents  of  rare  interest  relative 
to  Bartholomew  Zwingli.  The  first  is  his  formal  acceptance  of  the 
call  to  Wesen,  dated  January  29,  1487,  see  Z^cingliana  (Zurich, 
1899),  pp.  32  sqq.  for  the  text  and  Analecta  Reformatoria  (Zurich, 
1899),  i.,  pp.  I,  2  for  the  annotations  ;  the  second,  his  resignation 
from  Wildhaus,  dated  May  18,  1487,  see  AiiaUxta,  pp.  3,  4. 


i5o6]  Childhood  and  Youth  55 

with  his  uncle,  and  in  the  parish  school  under  his 
uncle's  direction  he  made  his  first  acquaintance  with 
learning.  But  as  it  was  soon  evident  that  he  had 
the  making  of  a  scholar  in  him  his  uncle  sent  him  in 
1494  to  Basel,  or  rather  to  Klein  Jkisel,  which  is  that 
part  of  the  city  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Rhine,  to 
the  school  of  St.  Theodore's  Church,'  kept  by  that 
gentle  and  wise  master,  Gregory  Buenzli,  in  whom 
Zwingli  found  a  fatherly  friend.' 

The  curriculum  of  a  school  like  Buenzli's  was 
Latin, ^  dialectic,  and  music.  The  scarcity  of  text- 
books, for  frequently  there  was  only  one  for  the 
class,  often  compelled  the  teachers  to  resort  to  dic- 
tation. Zwingli  was  a  brilliant  pupil,  and  in  spite 
of  all  obstacles  in  four  years  outgrew  Buenzli's  in- 
struction, and  was  sent  home  for  a  fresh  start.  One 
of  his  noticeable  qualities  was  his  readiness  in  de- 
bate, which  excited  the  jealousy  of  some  of  his  older 

'  The  church  still  stands  on  Wettstein  Place,  near  the  river. 

*  Master  and  pupil  afterwards  carried  on  an  intimate  correspond- 
ence, but  only  three  letters  of  it  ren-'c^m.  Two  are  from  Buenzli 
(vii.,  Ill  and  567),  dated  Feb-^ary  3,  1520,  and  December  i, 
1526,  respectively  ;  the  first  of  which  shows  that  Buenzli,  who  in 
1507  (Egli,  Analecta,\.,  2)  succeeded  Bartholomew  Zwingli  as  pastor 
at  Wesen,  was  still  there  in  1520,  the  latter  having  died  in  1513  ; 
the  second,  that  Buenzli  was  in  1526  failing  mentally.  The  one 
from  Zwingli  (vii.,  257),  dated  December  30,  1522,  alludes  to  the 
length  and  i<"iimacy  of  their  friendship  and  shows  quite  characteris- 
tic interest  in  promoting  the  affairs  of  one  of  Buenzli's  friends. 
Zwingli  acknowledges  Buenzli's  activity  in  the  cause  of  the  Reform- 
ation in  his  "  Instructions  for  Walenstadt,"  dated  December  13, 
1530  (ii.,  3,  86). 

^  In  1526  (vii.,  535),  Zwingli  speaks  of  learning  Latin  from  Cato's 
"Morals"  (a  favourite  reading-book  in  schools),  by  means  of  an 
interlinear  translation. 


56  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1484- 

companions.'  Probably  on  the  advice  of  his  uncle 
Bartholomew,  he  was  sent  to  Bern,  which  involved 
a  journey  of  one  hundred  miles  westward.  There 
he  entered  the  school  of  Heinrich  Woelflin,  or,  as 
he  called  himself,  following  the  humanistic  fashion 
of  the  time  and  Latinising  his  name,  Lupulus,  who 
was  the  first  one  in  Switzerland  to  adopt  in  their 
entirety  the  educational  ideas  of  the  Renascence. 
But  he  was  there  only  from  1498  to  1500,  and  as  no 
letter  to  or  from  Lupulus  is  extant  in  the  Zwingli 
correspondence,  it  is  probable  that  his  second 
teacher  did  not  attract  him  like  the  first.*  The 
occasion  of  his  leaving  him  was,  however,  no  dis- 
satisfaction with  his  instruction,  but  his  taking  up 
his  abode  in  the  Dominican  monastery.  What  in- 
duced him  to  do  so  was  apparently  the  training  the 
monks  promised  him  in  music,  for  music  was  a  pas- 
sion with  Zwingli,  and  he  was  already  an  accom- 
plished player  on  various  instruments.  What 
attracted  the  monks  was  his  intellectual  powers  in 
general.  But  God  did  not  intend  that  Zwingli 
should  be  a  monk,  as  Luther  was,  and  as  Zwingli's 
brother  James  was  later,  and  the  means  He  used 
was  the  opposition  of  his  father, — and  may  we  not 
say  especially  of  his  uncle  ? — and  Zwingli  was  taken 
out  of  the  way  of  temptation  and  sent  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vienna.  There  he  was  for  another  two 
years,  and  "  included  in  his  studies  all  that  philo- 


*  So  Myconius,  p.  4. 

*  Yet  Lupulus  accepted  the  Reformation,  probably  under  Haller's 
influence,  and  played  a  prominent  part  in  the  Reformed  Church  of 
Bern.     He  died  in  1534. 


i5o6]  Childhood  and  Youth  57 

sophy  embraces"';  and  so  he  very  likely  came 
under  the  influence  of  Conrad  Celtes,  who  was  the 
most  prominent  classical  teacher  in  the  university. 
In  1502  he  matriculated  at  Basel.'' 

Zwingli  had  up  to  this  time  been  merely  a  student, 
but  he  was  now  old  enough  to  earn  his  own  support. 
Accordingly,  when  after  a  visit  to  Wildhaus  he  went 
once  more  to  Basel  there  to  study  in  the  university, 
he  sought  an  opportunity  to  teach,  and  he  is  found  as 
a  teacher  of  the  classics  in  the  school  attached  to  St. 
Martin's  church.'     In  the  university  he  studied  the 

'  Myconius,  p.  4. 

*  His  name  stands  thus  on  the  summer  semester  matricula  of 
1500  in  Vienna  University  : 

Udalricus  Zwingling  de  Lichtensteig 2g  den. 

In  the  summer  semester  matricula  of  1502  in  Basel  his  name  appears 
fourth  in  a  list  of  thirteen  entered  under  the  rectorship  of  Johannes 
Wenz,  which  began  May  i,  thus: 

Udalricus  Zwingling  de  Lichtensteig vi.  sol. 

These  entries  are  printed  in  Egli's  Analecta  Reformatoria,  i.,  pp. 
8-10.  It  is  noteworthy  how  Zwingli's  name  was  then  spelled.  He 
seems  to  have  varied  the  spelling  himself.  In  1526  a  literary  oppo- 
nent twitted  him  for  changing  his  name  from  Zwingli  to  Zwinglius 
(vii.,  551).  Zinlius  is  the  form  used  by  Grebel,  see  Die  vadia- 
nische  Brief sammlting,  ed.  Arbenz,  e.  g.,  iii.,  50.  The  abbrevia- 
tions at  the  ends  of  the  lines  quoted  above  give  the  amount  of  the 
matriculation  fees  :  29  den.  means  29  denaries  or  pence ;  vi.  sol. 
means  6  sous.  Lichtensteig  or  Liechtensteig  was  the  nearest  market- 
town  to  Wildhaus,  and  so  given  as  the  better  known  place  to  hail 
from. 

^  The  church  still  stands,  but  the  school  has  vanished.  It  is  near 
the  market-place.  The  excellence  of  his  instruction  was  testified  to 
long  afterwards  by  one  of  his  grateful  pupils  who  became  a  prominent 
man  and  who  wrote  to  him  in  15 19  (vii.,  85).  Myconius  says  p.  4. 
Zwingli  was  head-master  of  St.  Martin's  school,  but  considering  his 
age  at  the  time  this  is  improbable. 


58  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1484- 

ordinary  curriculum  in  the  arts  course,  and  this  in- 
cluded theology,  which  was  taught  in  the  scholastic 
manner,  and  so,  judging  from  his  later  remarks 
upon  the  way  theology  was  presented,  he  was  more 
disgusted  than  edified.'  Still  he  made  thorough 
work.  In  1504  he  took  his  B.A.,  and  in  1506  his 
M.A.' 

In  the  latter  year,  1506,  he  received  a  call  to  be 
rector  at  Glarus,  and  as  this  is  only  a  few  miles  south 
of  Wesen  and  was  included  in  the  superintendency 
of  Wesen,  it  is  plain  that  his  uncle  Bartholomew 
was  a  main  factor  in  the  call.  After  what  self- 
debates  we  know  not,  but  probably  after  something 
of  a  struggle,  Zwingli,  who  had  been  by  choice  a  stu- 
dent and  teacher  of  the  classics,  turned  his  back  upon 
such  pursuits  to  take  up  the  busy  life  of  a  pastor,  to 
whom  teaching  could  not  be  the  sole  occupation. 

But  before  he  arrived  at  such  a  momentous  change 
he  had  had  his  thoughts  upon  theology  powerfully 
affected  by  contact  with  Thomas  Wyttenbach,  who 
after  having  been  teacher  at  Tuebingen,  on  Novem- 
ber 26,  1505,  began  to  lecture  at  Basel  upon  the 
"  Sentences  "  of  Peter  Lombard,  this  systematic 
introduction  to  the  Fathers  being  the  text-book  in 
every  mediaeval  university.  Wyttenbach  was  a  man 
with  a  message,  and  found  in  Zwingli  a  receptive 
hearer,  who  accepted  certain  of  his  ideas  which  were 
called  heretical,  and  ever  after  defended  them.  In 
1523  he  thus  bears  testimony  to  his  indebtedness  to 
Wyttenbach : 

'  See  Myconius,  p.  5. 

'  Egli  {Analecta  Keformatoria,  i.,  p.  Ii)  gives  the  text  of  these 
promotions, 


Z     N 

io 


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^1 


jK) 


\  3HXJO 

^'<M  V  a  8 


i5o6]  Childhood  and  Youth  59 

"  In  the  beginning  of  this  year  (for  I  came  to  Zurich 
on  St.  John  the  Evangelist's  Day  [15 19])  none  of  us  had 
ever  heard  of  Luther,  except  that  he  had  i)ublished  some- 
thing upon  indulgences  —  a  subject  on  which  I  did  not 
require  much  enlightenment  because  I  had  already  been 
taught  what  a  cheat  and  delusion  indulgences  were  by 
my  master  and  beloved  faithful  teacher,  Doctor  Thomas 
Wyttenbach,  of  Biel,  who  had  held  at  Basel  some  time 
before  in  my  absence  a  disputation  on  the  subject."  * 

In  1527,  he  again  speaks  of  Thomas  Wyttenbach, 
"  most  learned  and  holiest  of  men,"  as  teaching 
him  that  "  the  death  of  Christ  was  the  sole  price 
of  the  remission  of  sins,"  and  "  therefore  that  faith 
is  the  key  which  unlocks  to  the  soul  the  treasury 
of  [such]  remission."*  Another  of  Wyttenbach's 
ideas,  which  Zwingli  emphasised  later,  was  the  su- 
preme authority  of  Holy  Scripture.  So  although 
their  connection  was  of  the  briefest  description,  not 
lasting  more  than  a  few  months,  still  Wyttenbach 
made  a  permanent  impression,  and  may  well  be 
reckoned  among  the  influences  which  ultimately  led 
him  to  break  away  entirely  with  Mother  Church.' 


'  I.,  254,  in  his  exposition  of  the  "Articles"  of  the  Zurich  dis- 
putation of  January,  1523. 

^  III.,  544,  in  his  reply  to  Luther. 

'Wyttenbach  was  born  at  Biel,  or  Bienne,  sixty  miles  west  by 
south  of  Zurich,  in  1472,  and  died  there  in  1526.  In  1496  he  was 
matriculated  at  Tuebingen,  made  M.A.  there  in  1500.  In  Basel  he 
lectured  from  1505  to  1507,  when  he  became  people's  priest  in  Biel 
and  was  to  the  rest  of  his  days  identified  with  that  place.  He 
showed  his  independence  and  his  defiance  of  ecclesiastical  authority 
by  marrying  in  1524,  and  from  that  time  on  his  troubles  were 
incessant.  He  was  deprived  of  his  position,  and  just  when  he  had 
increased  need  of  money  he  found  himself  without  any,  and  till  the 


6o  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1484- 

Three  men  who  afterwards  were  destined  to  play 
prominent  parts  in  the  Swiss  Reformation  were 
fellow  students  with  Zwingli  under  Wyttenbach, 
viz.,  Capito,  Jud,  and  Pellican,  and  likewise  owed 
to  him  their  direction  to  the  study  of  the  Bible  and 
emancipation  from  the  bondage  of  Scholasticism. 
Jud,  in  fact,  gave  up  medicine  for  theology  in 
consequence. 

Excursus  oil  Zwingli' s  Parents,  Uncles,  Brothers, 
and  Sisters. 

The  last  mention  of  Zwingli's  father,  whose  first  name  also  was 
Huldreich,  is  in  his  brother  James's  letter,  dated  in  1513,  and  given 
below.  How  much  longer  he  lived  is  unknown.  His  mother,  whose 
name  was  Margaret  Meili,  is  not  mentioned  in  any  precedent  or  sub- 
sequent letter  to  or  from  Zwingli,  or  elsewhere,  but  he  once  speaks 
of  his  grandmother  in  the  passage  (i.,  524)  quoted  above,  cf.  p.  51. 
His  father's  brother,  Bartholomew,  died  at  Wesen  in  1513,  as  already 
stated.  His  mother's  brother,  Johann,  became  abbot  of  Fischingen, 
twenty  miles  east  by  north  of  Zurich,  in  15 10,  and  so  continued  till 
his  death  in  1523.  Abbot  Christian  of  Old  St.  John's  was  a  relative, 
but  on  which  side  is  unknown.  He  was  on  very  intimate  terms  with 
the  family,  as  the  Zwingli  correspondence  shows,  and  had  the  satis- 
faction of  receiving  James  Zwingli  as  a  monk  ;  see  the  letters  of 


end  of  his  days  was  miserably  poor.  But  though  in  dire  need  he 
pleaded  the  case  of  spiritual  freedom  and  kept  up  a  gallant  fight. 
His  exertions  won  over  many  to  the  Reformation,  and  while  he  lay 
dying  his  heart  was  gladdened  by  the  thought  that  his  beloved  native 
city  was  about -to  be  numbered  with  the  other  Reformed  cities  of 
Switzerland.  He  and  Zwingli  were  frequent  correspondents,  yet 
only  one  letter  has  been  preserved,  viz.,  a  long  one  by  Zwingli 
on  the  Eucharist,  dated  June  15,  1523  (vii.,  297-300).  It  is 
addressed  "to  his  dear  preceptor  and  brother  in  Christ  at  Biel." 
Zwingli  sends  him  a  greeting  as  "  his  dear  preceptor"  in  a  letter  to 
Haller,  December  29,  1521  (vii.,  187). 


i5"('l  Childhood  and  Youth  6i 

James  and  Andrew  below,  and,  passim,  in  the  Zwingli  correspond- 
ence. On  January  14,  1520,  he  wrote  a  very  deferential  letter  to 
Zwingli  (vii.,  109),  asking  his  aid  in  securing  additional  revenue 
for  the  monastery.  In  1528,  he  was  driven  from  his  monastery  by  a 
mob,  but  was  later  restored.  In  1555,  his  monastery  was  annexed  to 
the  abbey  of  St.  Gall,  which  was  founded  by  the  Benedictines. 

The  names  and  order  of  the  birth  of  the  brothers  and  sisters  of 
the  Zwingli  family  were  :  Heini  (also  called  Hainy  or  Henry), 
Klaus  (or  Nicholas),  Huldreich  (also  called  Ulrich),  Hans,  Wolf- 
gang, Bartholomaus,  Jacob  (or  James),  Anna,  Andrew,  and  an  un- 
named daughter.  Of  Heini  there  has  been  preserved  one  letter 
(viii.,  430,  431),  dated  from  Old  St.  John's,  March  9,  1530.  It 
promises  Zwingli  the  earliest  obtainable  information  from  trust- 
worthy friends  on  the  Rhine  concerning  any  action  which  affected 
him.  The  letter  has  as  joint  author  a  certain  Hans  Rudlig,  and  so 
it  is  in  their  joint  names.  The  probability  is  that  Heini  could  not 
write  any  more  easily  (if  at  all)  than  the  brothers  named  above, 
except  James  and  Andrew.  So  Blasius  Farer,  on  December  9,  1524, 
wrote  to  Zwingli  from  Stein,  "by  the  command"  of  his  brothers 
(vii.,  372).  As  is  the  case  with  other  letters  in  the  Zwingli  cor- 
respondence, these  letters  from  Heini  and  Farer  are  in  both  German 
and  Latin,  the  German  being  doubtless  the  original.  Of  Klaus  we 
know  that  he  had  a  servant  who  died  of  the  plague,  see  Andrew's 
letter,  p.  65.  Huldreich  is  the  subject  of  this  biography.  Of  Hans, 
Wolfgang,  and  Bartholomaus  we  know  nothing  personal.  From 
the  fact  that  in  1523  he  addresses  his  surviving  brothers  collectively 
in  the  dedication  of  his  sermon  on  the  Virgin  Mary  (i.,  84-87), 
it  is  known  that  they  were  living  in  Wildhaus  together  and  pursuing 
the  calling  of  farmers,  shepherds,  and  goatherds,  just  as  their  fathers 
had  done  ;  and  that  much  to  his  disgust  some  of  them  had  entered 
the  mercenary  military  service.  It  is  likely  that  they  accepted  the 
Reformation. 

Zwingli  sent  James  to  Vadian's  care  with  this  letter  of  introduc- 
tion, dated  Glarus,  October  4,  15 12  (vii.,  7),  and  accompanied  it  with 
an  historical  sketch  of  the  1512  Italian  campaign  of  the  Glarus  con- 
tingent in  the  papal  army.  (Seep.  71.)  "  The  bearer  of  this  is  my 
own  brother,  a  boy  of  good  promise  ;  when  I  thought  over  to  whom 
to  send  him  to  be  initiated  into  the  sacred  mysteries  of  philosophy, 
you  always  occurred  to  me.  Therefore,  I  beseech  you  by  the  sweet- 
ness of  our  friendship  that  you  polish,  smooth,  and  finish  him  with 


62  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1484- 

plane,  axe,  and  rake.  I  am  sure  you  will  find  him  most  obedient. 
But  if  he  dare  to  be  disobedient,  shut  him  up  without  compassion 
until  his  petulance  effervesces.  He  has  50  gold  pieces  for  the  two 
years,  so  that  he  will  need  to  be  economical." 

That  James  considered  his  allowance  altogether  too  small  is  shown 
by  this  letter,  the  only  one  of  his  preserved  (vii.,  7) : 

"  Brother  James  Zwingli '  to  Huldreich  Zwingli,  philosopher  and 
rector  at  Glarus.  Greeting  :  Would  that  the  All  swaying  and  su- 
premely Good  God  would  so  bring  it  about  that  you  might  estimate 
my  studies  as  highly  as  I  do  your  liberality  and  brothjerly  kindness  ! 
And  I  do  not  despair  of  this  ;  for  I  can  be  advanced  so  much  by 
your  example  and  exhortations  (not  to  leave  room  for  which  would 
be  degeneracy),  also  by  Master  Joachim  Vadianus,  whose  pupil  I 
now  am  ;  I  am  nourished  by  the  flowers  and  rivulets  of  all  the  sci- 
ences, from  which  it  would  be  a  crime  for  those  ignorant  of  philo- 
sophy to  withdraw.  Therefore,  let  me  not  be  defiled  by  this  wrong 
or  that ;  doubt  not  that  I  will  strive  with  perennial  energy.  Yet 
one  anxiety  is  left ;  I  cannot  live  for  two  years  upon  the  50  gold 
pieces  allowed  me.  I  do  not  complain  of  this,  by  Mars,  because  I 
am  given  to  high  living.  By  Hercules  '  I  live  pretty  roughly.  I 
live  upon  the  food  carried  away  from  the  dinner  table  ;  I  am  com- 
pelled to  drink  water  which  can  be  made  by  no  benediction  to  lose 
its  original  bad  taste.  In  accordance  with  the  warning  of  Joachim, 
let  50  gold  pieces  be  added  to  the  15  I  received,  and  this  you  would 
assent  to  if  you  knew  the  circumstances.  When  I  reached  Vienna, 
only  II  remained,  so  expensive  was  the  journey,  and  of  them  I  spent 
7  for  books  and  then  bought  a  bed.  Assuredly  money  slipped  so 
quickly  out  of  my  hands  that  there  is  hardly  a  penny  left.  Then 
there  are  19  florins  to  be  paid  the  procurator  for  food  and  5  yearly 
to  Joachim,  so  that  unless  I  can  look  for  30  gold  pieces  a  year  study 
cannot  be  carried  on.  Therefore,  my  brother,  on  your  side  take 
things  in  good  part,  and  make  your  ears  gracious  to  my  appeal,  and 
I  will  on  my  part  always  respect  your  wishes. 

"Concerning  my  studies  I  cannot  write  more,  as  I  have  hardly 
tasted  them.  I  gain  very  little  from  the  reading  of  Pliny  as  I  lack  a 
copy.  I  hear  with  the  greatest  attention  lectures  on  Lactantius's 
Dc  Opificio  and  the  rest  from  [John]  Camertes  [jirofessor  of  theo- 
logy],   the  most  learned  man  in  Vienna  at  this  time.      I  hear  the 

'  The  word  "  f rater  "  in  the  inscription  of  this  letter  means  brother 
ip  the  iponastic  sense. 


1506]  Childhood  and  Youth  63 

Letters  of  Cicero  by  our  Joachim  and  the  text  of  the  Sentences  [of 
Peter  Lombard]  from  a  certain  Father,  a  bachelor  of  letters.  I 
study,  unwillingly  though,  the  Dialectics,  and  I  hear  this,  that,  and 
the  other,  which  it  is  not  necessary  to  speak  of.  Though  it  will  be 
seen  how  far  I  shall  profit  by  any  particular  course  when  I  have  put 
the  finishing  touch  to  it.     So  much  for  this. 

"As  to  the  money,  do  your  part  that  what  is  coming  to  me  may 
be  handed  to  Francis  Zili,  citizen  of  St.  Gall,  grandfather  of  Valen- 
tine Tschudi,  so  that  it  may  reach  me  by  March  23d.  I  have  written 
the  same  thing  to  the  abbot  [probably  that  of  St.  John's],  and  by 
command  of  my  instructor  I  have  asked  father  for  a  good  new  coat. 
So  see  to  it  they  get  their  letters  as  soon  as  possible,  so  that  all  may 
be  done  at  an  early  date.  Have  them  read  through  this  one's  letter 
to  the  dekan  [of  Wesen,  Bartholomew  Zwingli,  James's  uncle]  as 
soon  as  possible.  I  and  the  writer  of  this  \i.  e.,  Valentine]  are  in 
one  boat.  Urge  Valentine's  relatives  to  be  liberal,  for  though  they 
are  rich  they  are  very  frugal. 

"  If  there  is  any  news  let  me  have  it.  Not  far  from  us  a  doubtful 
conflict  has  been  fought  between  the  Hungarians  and  the  Turks,  and 
this  terrifies  the  Austrians.  Do  not  be  angry  at  this  unpolished  let- 
ter. Farewell !  The  good  fortune  of  Metellus  and  the  years  of 
Nestor  be  yours.  Greet  our  respected  John,  Dr.  Gregory  [pastor] 
of  Swandon,  my  comrade  Fridolin,  and  my  sister  [of  Glarus]. 

"Vienna,  at  the  house  of  Saint  Jerome,  January  23,  1513." 

When  James  went  to  Vienna  he  was  already  a  monk,  (see  above), 
and  so  his  matriculation  entry  in  the  winter  semester  of  1512  reads : 
Fr[ater]  Jacobus  Zwinglin  professus  ad  s.  Joannem  prope 

Apezell 4  grossos. 

This  fact  about  James  Zwingli  was  first  published  by  Egli,  Analecta, 
i.,  12.  Valentine  Tschudi's  name  comes  on  the  next  line  of  the 
matricula.  James  died  a  monk  in  the  Scotch  monastery  in  Vienna  in 
the  year  1517.'  Zwingli,  writing  to  Vadian,  June  13,  1517  (vii.,  24), 
says  :  "  God  Almighty  knows  how  much  grief  has  been  cast  upon  me 
by  the  sudden  death  of  my  brother,  to  whom  you  showed  every 
attention  that  your  kindest  of  kind  hearts  could  suggest."  John 
James  a  Liliis  introduces  himself  to  Zwingli  in  a  letter  from  Paris, 


'  Whose  abbot  was  Eenedictus  Chelidonius,  who  wrote  the  Latin 
verses  which  accompany  Diirer's  cartoons  of  the  Passion  of  Christ, 
the  Apocalypse  and  the  life  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 


64  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1484- 

October  21,  1518  (vii.,  49),  as  an  intimate  friend  of  Zwingli's  deceased 
brother  James. 

Anna  married  Leonard  Tremp,  a  master  tailor  in  Bern,  who 
eventually  became  a  leading  citizen  and  was  an  ardent  promoter  of 
the  Reformation  there.  Four  letters  from  him  to  Zwingli  have  been 
preserved,  all  in  German  with  a  Latin  translation  :  vii.,  483,  in 
which  he  warns  Zwingli  against  going  to  the  Baden  conference  lest 
he  be  murdered  on  the  way  ;  viii.,  23,  in  which  he  speaks  of  various 
cantonal  matters  ;  viii.,  195,  which  seems  to  be  imperfect ;  viii.,  276, 
in  w^hich  alone  does  he  mention  his  wife,  confesses  his  personal  fault 
in  regard  to  the  treaty  between  Geneva  and  Bern,  which  Zwingli  had 
strongly  deprecated;  and  one  letter  to  him  and  Zwingli,  vii.,  524. 
These  letters  show  the  intimate  footing  he  stood  on  with  Zwingli. 
So  in  the  letter  from  Haller  to  Zwingli,  dated  January  28,  1522 
(vii.,  189),  Tremp  and  his  wife  are  thus  mentioned  :  "  Tremp,  most 
affectionate  of  your  friends,  and  his  most  worthy  wife  are  well  and 
hope  that  you  are  also  in  the  best  of  health."  And  Zwingli  sends 
remembrances  to  Tremp  when  writing  to  Bern,  e.  g.,  vii.,  319.  It 
was  from  Tremp's  house  that  Megander  and  Haller  wrote  to  Zwingli 
on  March  2,  1531  (viii.,  583). 

In  regard  to  Andretv,  who  was  apparently  the  youngest  of  the 
family,  there  is  a  little  more  known.  He  was  an  inmate  of  Zwingli's 
house  in  Zurich  when  the  plague  broke  out  in  midsummer  of  15 19. 
Zwingli  was  then  at  Pfaefers,  but  on  his  return  to  Zurich  sent 
Andrew  for  safety's  sake  to  his  brothers  at  Wildhaus,  where  he  and 
his  brothers  were  well  when  on  January  14,  1520  (vii.,  109,  no),  the 
abbot  of  Old  St.  John's  wrote  to  Zwingli.  Then  Zwingli  took  sick 
himself.  Not  knowing  the  reason  for  his  silence,  Andrew  wrote  the 
first  of  the  two  letters  given  below,  all  that  remain  of  their  corre- 
spondence. As  soon  as  he  could,  Zwingli  transferred  him  to  his 
(Zwingli's)  unmarried  sister's  care  at  Glarus,  and  sent  him  to  school 
there  (see  Andrew's  second  letter).  When  it  seemed  safe  to  do  so, 
Zwingli  recalled  him  to  Zurich,  but,  alas  !  the  lad  took  the  plague 
and  died  on  November  18,  1520.  Zwingli  thus  announced  to  his 
bosom  friend,  Myconius  (vii.,  155),  the  death  of  this  dear  brother: 

"  Zwingli  to  Myconius.  Greeting.  I  am  doubtful  whether  the 
evils  which  befall  me  (if  they  are  evils),  ought  to  be  communicated 
to  you,  who  are  a  man  of  most  sympathetic  disposition.  For  I  fear 
that  if  I  do  not  warn  you  beforehand  you  will  fall  into  unrestrained 
grief,  so  regardful  are  you  of  me.     And  yet  I  beseech  that  you  will 


Wi^ 


Childhood  and  Youth  65 

endure  itiy  misfortunes  with  a  calm  mind,  even  as  I  myself  endure 
them.  Because  now  I  endure  with  equanimity  what  formerly  threw 
me  into  spasms  of  grief  and  mourning  more  than  feminine,  when  I 
was  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  overwhelmed  with  sorrow.  Still  I 
recovered  myself,  so  that  now  once  more  I  stand  firm.  Thanks  be 
to  God  !  And  so  do  you  take  it  calmly  when  I  tell  you  of  the  death 
of  my  brother  Andrew,  a  youth  of  great  promise  and  excellent  parts, 
whom  the  plague  slew  on  St.  Elizabeth  day  [November  19],  envious 
(I  think)  of  our  blood  and  renown.  Had  he  lived  a  year  longer  he 
would  have  come  to  you  [at  Lucern]  to  be  instructed  by  you  and 
your  son  in  Greek,  But  so  far  am  I  from  remonstrating  with  God 
that  I  am  ready  to  offer  myself.     Enough  of  this. 

"  I  am  awaiting  your  letter  and  those  manifold  songs  recommended 
by  Zimmerman,  for  which  our  people  here  are  looking  daily. 

"  Farewell,  and  love  me  in  my  bereavement  as  you  are  accustomed 
to  do.  Except  for  my  loss  the  plague  grows  no  worse,  for  I  do  not 
know  that  within  a  month  or  so  more  than  four  or  five  have  died. 
I  send  my  good  wishes  for  your  wife  and  children,  Zimmerman,  the 
Provisor,  and  all. 

"  Zurich,  November  25,  1520. 

"  P.  S.  I  am  not  at  home,  driven  out  rather  by  the  persuasions  of 
my  friends,  than  by  my  own  fears  of  death,  and  I  shall  soon  return. 
So  you  will  not  wonder  that  this  letter  is  not  sealed  in  my  usual 
fashion.     Francis  Zinck  greets  you." 

As  Zinck  was  papal  chaplain  at  Einsiedeln  it  is  likely  that  ZwingH 
was  there  when  he  wrote  this  letter. 

The  two  letters  of  Andrew  Zwingli  (vii.,  88,  89),  already  men- 
tioned, are  as  follows  : 

I.  "Andrew  Zwingli  to  Huldreich  Zwingli.  Greeting.  I  wish 
you  would  inform  me,  my  dear  brother,  how  you  are  ;  for  we  do  not 
know  whether  you  are  well,  since  you  have  written  nothing.  You 
said  when  I  came  away  that  the  abbot  [of  Old  St.  John's]  should 
soon  receive  a  letter  from  you  ;  but  I  see  that  he  has  not.  What  the 
delay  is  I  do  not  see.  But  the  abbot  seems  to  me  (it  is  only  my  in- 
ference) to  take  it  hard  that  you  do  not  write  to  him  more  frequently, 
and  that  you  passed  by  him  when  you  had  been  at  Pfaefers,  You 
should  know  that  the  pestilence  is  raging  here,  for  seven  or  eight 
have  died.  We  are  all  safe  thus  far  by  the  will  of  God,  But  our 
brother  Nicholas's  servant  has  died,  but  not  in  his  house.  The 
abbot  and  our  brothers  tell  me  to  send  you  their  greetings ;  the 
S 


66  Huldreich  Zwingli 

abbot  adds  that  you  are  to  write  to  him  when  your  business  will 
allow  you.  I  beg  and  beseech  that  you  will  ever  have  me  com- 
mended to  you. 

"Farewell,  and  take  this  in  good  part.  Greet  for  me  your  col- 
leagues and  your  family. 

"Yours, 

"Andrew  Zwingli. 

"  'Thursday  before  the  Feast  of  St.  Gall  [/.  e.,  October  13],  1519." 
II.  "  Andrew  Zwingli  to  Huldreich  Zwingli.  Greeting.  Acer- 
tain  incredible  tide  of  joy  swept  over  me,  dear  brother,  on  reading 
your  letter,  from  which  I  perceive  that  you  are  convalescing  daily. 
What  more  pleasing  news  could  I  have  than  that  you  are  well !  For 
you  have  deserved  so  well  of  me  that  I  cannot  render  an  equivalent. 
Nevertheless,  I  shall  always  be  prepared  to  serve  you  to  the  best  of 
my  ability  with  hands  and  feet.  And  he  shall  not  see  Andrew  alive 
who  sees  him  forgetful  of  you  ! 

"  You  write  also  that  I  must  add  some  Greek  to  the  Latin,  so  that 
I  may  not  forget  what  I  have  learned  with  so  much  pains.  Still  I 
think  you  know  that  there  is  no  one  here  who  cares  a  straw  for 
Greek,  except  the  school-master,  and  business  so  distracts  him  that 
he  has  no  leisure.  You  advise  me  not  to  go  to  beasts  of  this  sort. 
I  so  approve  of  the  advice  you  give  me  in  so  brotherly  a  manner  that 
I  will  no  more  approach  those  equine  beasts.  I  will  certainly  do  so 
and  grow  wise  through  painful  experience,  according  to  the  proverb  : 
'  A  burnt  child  dreads  the  fire.' 

"As  to  the  books  of  which  you  write,  you  may  understand  that  I 
received  all,  both  Elmer's  and  mine,  and  he  himself  gave  me  the 
money.  You  know  that  I  am  now  well,  and  that  I  desire  you  to 
inform  me  how  you  are.  Farewell.  The  school-master  and  Hiru- 
doeus,  Elmer,  and  my  sister  tell  me  to  send  you  greetings.  Farewell 
again  and  again,  bear  with  me  kindly  and  ever  put  me  among  those 
who  are  most  fond  of  you. 
"  Glarus  [November  ?],  1519. 

"You  will  greet  in  my  name  your  assistants  and  your  family. 
Also  salute  in  my  behalf  most  diligently  my  teacher  Myconius,  and 
Luchsinger. 

"  Yours, 

"Andrew  Zwingli." 

The  unnamed  sister  of  Zwingli  was  married  in  Zurich  in  1524  to 
Zwingli's  friend,  John  James  Ammann  (vii.,  341).     The  marriage 


Childhood  and  Youth  67 

could  not  have  lasted  long,  for  Zwingli,  writing  on  March  I2,  1529 
(viii.,  270),  speaks  of  Huldreich  Stoll  as  his  sister's  husband  and 
apparently  alludes  to  the  same  sister.  She  died  at  Glarus  in  1579 
and  left  descendants.  She  is  mentioned  in  the  letters  of  James  and 
Andrew  given  above. 

Blasius  Farer,  writing  on  October  23,  1525  (vii.,  422),  to  Zwingli 
from  Stein,  eleven  miles  east  of  Wildhaus,  the  place  already  men- 
tioned on  p.  61,  alludes  to  the  fact  that  Cunhart  Clauser,  the  public 
clerk  of  Thur,  had  married  one  of  Zwingli's  relatives. 


CHAPTER   II 

AT   GLARUS 
1506-1516 

SEVEN  and  a  half  miles  south  of  Wesen  and 
forty-three  miles  south-east  of  Zurich,  upon  a 
little  plain  guarded  by  lofty  mountains,  lies  Glarus; 
and  thither  Zwingli,  in  the  fall  of  1506,  went  as  par- 
ish priest.'  It  was  an  important  charge,  for  three 
considerable  villages — Netstall,  two  miles  north, 
Ennenda,  one  mile  south,  and  Mitloedi,  two  and  a 
half  miles  south — as  well  as  the  town  of  Glarus  were 
comprehended  in  this  parish  —  in  fact  nearly  one 
third  of  the  canton. 

But  as  Zwingli  was  a  layman  when  he  received 
the  call,  he  had  to  be  ordained,  and  may  have  gone 
to   Constance    for  this   purpose.      Certain  it  is  he 

'  His  predecessor  was  Johannes  Stucki.  Heinrich  Goldli,  a  young 
Zuricher  of  a  prominent  family,  but  already  a  pluralist,  indeed  a 
speculator  in  church  livings,  laid  claim  to  the  place  on  the  strength 
of  a  letter  of  investiture  from  the  Pope,  Julius  II.,  whose  "courte- 
san," i.  e.,  hanger-on,  Goldli  was.  Zwingli  was  compelled  to  buy 
him  off  at  an  expense  of  more  than  a  hundred  gulden,  twenty  of 
which  were  made  up  to  him  by  his  congregation  when  he  left  them. 
Cf.  vii.,  237,  and  allusion  in  ii.,  I,  2.  Goldli  was  not,  however,  en- 
tirely silenced  until  he  received  a  papal  pension  in  1512.  Cf.  Hottin- 
ger-Wirz,  Hclvetische  Kircheiigeschichte,  iii.,  299  ;  Schuler,  ZwinglVs 
Bildntigsgeschichte,  p.  302.  For  additional  evidence  of  Goldli's 
grasping  and  rascally  character,  see  vii.,  183  ;  and  also  Professor 
Vincent's  chapter,  pp.  29-31. 

63 


I506-I6]  At  Glariis  69 

preached  his  first  sermon  at  Rappersvvyl,  in  the 
church  at  the  back  of  the  old  castle  on  the  promon- 
tory jutting  out  into  the  Lake  of  Zurich  and  twenty- 
seven  miles  from  that  city.  And  on  Michaelmas 
day,  which  that  year  (1506)  came  on  Tuesday, 
September  29th,  he  read  his  first  mass  in  the  parish 
church  at  Wildhaus.     He  then  went  to  Glarus.' 


'  None  of  these  churches  thus  associated  with  his  early  life  now 
exists.  The  church  at  Rapperswyl  was  burnt  in  1881.  If  that  now  on 
its  site  is  the  same  size  as  the  old  church  it  must  have  been  quite 
large,  as  the  view  in  this  volume  shows.  At  Wildhaus  there  are 
now  two  churches.  That  on  the  present  high-road  is  the  Reformed 
and  is  modern,  but  is  probably  on  the  site  of  the  parish  church  in 
Zwingli's  time  ;  the  one  directly  back  of  it  is  also  comparatively  new 
and  belongs  to  the  Roman  Catholics.  The  church  wherein  he  offici- 
ated at  Glarus  was  burnt  in  the  conflagration  which  well-nigh  de- 
stroyed the  town  on  Friday,  May  10,  1861,  and  upon  its  site  is  a 
building  containing  the  Law  Courts,  the  Public  Library,  and  a  small 
museum.  The  principal  church  of  the  place  is  some  little  distance 
from  it,  and  is  used  by  the  Roman  Catholics  and  the  Reformed 
together.  But  as  it  was  built  subsequent  to  the  fire  and  is  used  by 
the  same  union  congregation,  it  may  be  considered  as  keeping  up  the 
connection  with  Zwingli,  for  Zwingli  was  not  followed  into  the 
Reformed  faith  by  all  his  congregation,  and  his  successor  ministered 
to  both  communions  in  the  same  church  !  The  only  relic  of  Zwingli 
preserved  at  Glarus  is  a  very  interesting  one,  viz.,  the  silver  chalice 
used  by  him  in  celebrating  the  Eucharist.  It  is  in  the  keeping  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  priest,  who,  however,  courteously  shows  it  to 
Protestant  pilgrims.  The  Reverend  Professor  William  J.  Hinke  of 
Ursinus  College,  in  the  Reformed  Church  Record  for  November  25, 
i8g7,  thus  describes  it :  "  It  is  like  a  flat  bowl  in  shape,  four  inches 
wide,  while  the  whole  cup  is  but  five  inches  high.  The  foot  of  the 
cup  is  adorned  by  four  seals,  containing  pictures  of  the  four  evangel- 
ists, together  with  their  symbolical  representations.  The  stem  of  the 
cup  has  projecting  knobs  with  rosettes  adorning  the  ends.  On  the 
base  is  scratched  '  Calixi  Uly  Zwingli,  1516.'  "  On  August  23,  1897, 
Professor  Hinke  made  the  photograph  which  is  reproduced  in  this 
volume. 


70  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1506- 

To  the  Glarean  period  of  Zwingli's  life  belong  the 
earliest  of  his  compositions  which  have  been  pre- 
served, and  which  were  circulated  in  manuscript 
during  his  lifetime,  but  not  published  until  after 
his  death.  They  consist  of  two  rhymed  productions 
in  the  vernacular,  dating  from  1510;  and  an  account 
of  the  doings  of  the  Glarean  contingent  in  Italy  in 
15 12.  The  so-called  poems  are  not  much  better 
than  doggerel  in  rhymed  couplets.  The  first,  en- 
titled "The  Labyrinth,"  is  the  story  of  Theseus, 
Ariadne,  and  the  Minotaur.  Applying  the  classical 
myth  he  makes  the  thread  reason;  the  Minotaur 
shame  or  sins  and  vices;  Ariadne  the  reward  of 
virtue.  On  his  way  to  the  Minotaur  Theseus  passes 
several  pictures  of  animals  on  the  sides  of  the  laby- 
rinth which  at  first  startle  him.  These  animals  are 
allegorically  explained  as  enemies  of  the  Swiss.  So 
the  poem  is  an  allegory  of  Switzerland  in  the  midst 
of  its  foes,  the  pensionaries,  i.  c,  those  who  in  the 
pay  of  foreign  Powers  hired  out  their  countrymen 
for  foreign  military  service. 

The  second  so-called  poem  is  still  more  decidedly 
allegorical,  but  has  much  less  interest  and  general 
merit.  It  is  entitled  "  The  Ox  and  the  other  Beasts." 
It  is  a  tame  picture  of  the  Swiss  (the  ox),  surrounded 
by  cats  (pensionaries),  and  attended  by  a  faithful 
dog  (the  national  feeling),  alternately  the  victim  of 
the  wiles  or  the  attacks  of  the  lion  (France)  and  the 
fox  (Venice).  The  shepherd  (the  Pope)  endeav- 
ours to  deliver  it  from  its  foes.  The  application 
is  throughout  obviously  to  the  practice  which  had 
grown  up  of  distributing  pensions  among  prominent 


i5i6]  At  Glarus  71 

Swiss  in  order  to  secure  their  countrymen  for  mili- 
tary service  in  foreign  countries,' 

The  third  composition  is  much  more  interesting 
and  important.  It  was  written  in  Latin  inside  of 
three  hours  —  much  of  Zwingli's  work  was  done 
hastily."  It  relates  the  doings  of  the  mercenaries 
who  went  from  Glarus  into  Italy  in  15 12,  and  is  the 
sole  specimen  we  have  of  Zwingli  as  an  historian. 
It  is  proof  that  if  he  had  devoted  himself  to  history 
he  would  have  excelled.^  < 

Accepting  the  historical  sketch  just  alluded  to  as 
based  on  personal  observation,  Zwingli  went  three 
times  to  Italy  as  chaplain  of  the  Glarus  contin- 
gent,  in   1512,    in    1513,    and    again    in    1515,   and 


'  The  two  poems  are  printed  in  ii.,  2,  243-268,  with  prefaces  and 
translations  into  modern  high  German.  Zwingli  himself  translated 
the  second  poem  into  Latin  and  his  translation  is  also  given.  His 
dear  friend,  Loriti,  the  distinguished  Humanist,  did  not  consider  this 
rendering  altogether  a  success  (vii.,  4). 

*  IV.,  167-172.  In  its  hasty  composition  it  resembles  his  first  pub- 
lication, "  A  Godly  Exhortation,"  etc.,  which  was  thought  out,  as  the 
preface  informs  us,  written,  and  printed  inside  of  three  days  (ii. ,  2,  287). 

^  James  Zwingli  brought  it  to  Vadian,  along  with  his  letter  of 
introduction  already  given  above,  p.  61.  It  is  debated  whether 
Zwingli  wrote  this  account  from  his  own  personal  knowledge  or 
from  the  reports  of  the  returned  soldiers,  many  of  whom  would  be 
parishioners  of  his.  The  account  does  not  pretend  to  be  at  first 
hand,  and  there  are  expressions  which  seem  to  betray  ignorance 
such  as  would  not  be  likely  in  so  bright  a  man  as  Zwingli  if  he  had 
been  in  Italy  at  the  time.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  every  way  prob- 
able that  he  went  with  those  of  his  parishioners  who  formed  part  of 
the  papal  army  of  that  year,  as  he  unquestionably  did  in  1513  and 
15 15,  and  as  was  indeed  his  duty  to  do  as  a  Swiss  pastor,  and  the 
errors  can  be  explained  on  the  ground  of  haste  or  of  that  curious 
f?fality  to  blunder  which  characterises  some  writers,  even  historians. 


72  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1506- 

these  journeys  had  considerable  influence  upon  his 
life.  In  ways  quite  different  from  the  journey 
which  Luther  made  to  Italy  they  contributed  to 
his  emancipation  from  the  allegiance  to  the  Roman 
Church  which  characterised  his  early  life.  Dur- 
ing his  first  experience  as  army  chaplain  occurred 
the  battles  of  Ravenna  and  Pavia,  in  the  second 
the  victory  of  Novara,  thirty  miles  west  of  Milan, 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  battles  of  history, 
wherein  seven  thousand  Swiss  overcame  twenty-one 
thousand  French  troops,  well  supplied  with  cavalry 
and  artillery,  while  the  Swiss  were  without  either. 
The  zeal  which  Zwingli  displayed  in  the  papal  in- 
terest on  both  these  campaigns  was  so  manifest, 
while  at  the  same  time  his  independence  was  equally 
manifest,  that  the  Pope,  hearing  of  his  perform- 
ances, thought  to  bind  the  young  Swiss  to  his  ser- 
vice by  making  him  papal  pension  agent  for  the 
canton  of  Glarus,'  and  further  by  the  grant  of  an 
annual  pension  of  fifty  gulden'  "  for  the  purchase 
of  books,"  as  it  was  euphemistically  styled.  This 
papal  pension  was  destined  to  bring  Zwingli  into 
trouble. 

Zwingli's  position  in  the  papal  favour  may  have 
been  the  reason  why  he  was  selected  to  head  the 
following  petition  for  certain  favours  from  the  Pope, 
if  indeed  he  did  not  write  the  petition,  and  also  the 
reason  why  they  were  secured : 


'J.  J.  Hottinger,  Helvcttsche  Kirchengeschichte,  ii.,  578. 
'"'  !•.  354-      1  he  amount  was  considerable  for  those  days.     See  the 
excursus  on  the  papal  pension,  pp.  114  sqq. 


i5i6]  At  Glarus  73 

A  Petition  to  the  Pope  for  a  Confessor  and  Certaiti 

Privileges  for  the  Priest  Master  Zwingli  and 

Eleven  Cotnpanions. 

[1512-1513  ?] 

Most  Blessed  Father:  For  the  better  provision  for  the 
safety  of  the  souls  of  your  devoted  petitioners,  Master 
Huldreich  Zwingli,  presbyter,  [and]  Heinrich  Haessi, 
Anton  Murer,  Huldreich  Tschudi  [and]  Judoc  Tschudi 
of  Glarus,  Wolfgang  Zymmermann,  Johann  Speich, 
Marcus  Mad,  Huldreich  Landolt,  Margareta  Zilin, 
Rudolf  Brunner,  and  Melchior  Murer,  of  the  laity  of  the 
Diocese  of  Constance,  husbands  and  wives,  and  of  their 
children  of  either  sex,  the  aforesaid  petitioners  humbly 
beseech  Your  Holiness  to  grant  as  a  mark  of  special 
favour  to  them  that  such  suitable  confessor  of  the  secular 
or  any  regular  order  as  any  of  them  shall  consider 
eligible,  shall  have  power  to  absolve  them  from  all  ec- 
clesiastical judgments,  censures,  and  penalties,  of  ex- 
communication, suspension,  interdict,  or  of  other  nature, 
imposed  by  law  or  by  man  upon  any  occasion  or  for  any 
cause,  from  transgressions  as  to  any  vows,  oaths,  or 
mandates  of  the  Church,  and  as  to  fasts,  from  guilt  of 
mental  or  accidental  homicide,  from  neglect  of  penances 
imposed  or  of  divine  offices,  and  from  all  their  sins, 
however  grave,  which  they  have  repented  of  in  their 
hearts  and  confessed  with  their  lips,  even  such  as  ought 
properly  to  be  referred  to  the  Apostolic  See,  when  re- 
served, once  in  life  and  at  the  moment  of  death,  save 
only  those  contained  in  the  Bull  on  the  Lord's  Supper 
\_Bidla  in  Ccena  Domim\  when  not  reserved  to  the 
Apostolic  See,  as  often  as  shall  be  necessary,  and  to  im- 
pose penance  unto  salvation,  also  to  commute  to  other 


74  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1506- 

works  of  piety  all  vows  save  only  those  of  Religion  and 
Chastity  or  of  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  to  the  resting- 
place  of  Peter  and  Paul  at  the  City  [of  Rome],  and  of  St. 
James  in  Compostella  [Santiago  de  Compostella  is  in 
extreme  North-western  Spain],  and  to  release  from  all 
oaths  without  prejudice  to  other  parties,  also  once  in  life 
and  at  the  moment  of  death  to  bestow  with  apostolic 
authority  remission  of  all  their  sins  with  plenary  absolu- 
tion. Moreover,  that  it  be  lawful  for  any  presbyter  or 
noble  or  graduate  among  the  petitioners  to  have  a  port- 
able altar,  with  due  reverence  and  honour,  at  which  even 
before  daylight,  though  about  dawn,  to  cause  to  be  cele- 
brated by  their  own  or  other  suitable  priest  in  presence 
of  themselves  or  of  any  one  of  them,  their  families,  and 
household,  or  themselves  to  celebrate,  masses  and  other 
divine  offices,  and  to  attend  divine  service  and  receive 
the  Eucharist  and  other  sacraments  of  the  Church,  in 
places  appropriate  thereto  and  worthy,  even  though  they 
be  not  consecrated  and  in  ordinary  course  under  the  in- 
terdict of  the  Church,  provided  they  have  not  given  cause 
for  such  interdict;  except,  however,  upon  Easter  or  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  rector  [of  the  parish].  That  the  bodies 
of  those  of  the  petitioners  who  pass  away  at  the  time  of 
such  interdict  may  be  delivered  to  ecclesiastical  burial 
therein  without  funeral  pomp.  Also,  that  by  devoutly 
visiting  upon  separate  days  in  Lent  or  other  days  of  the 
Stations  of  the  City  in  any  one  year  one  or  two  churches 
or  two  or  three  altars  which  any  one  of  them  shall  have 
selected  as  suitable  in  the  parts  where  the  separate  peti- 
tioners happen  to  be  residing  for  the  time,  they  may  ob- 
tain as  many  and  such  indulgences  as  they  would  obtain 
if  they  visited  in  person  annually  the  separate  churches 
of  the  City,  which  because  of  such  Stations  are  usually 
visited  by  the  faithful  of  Christ.     Besides,  that  in  Lent 


i5i6]  At  Glarus  75 

and  on  other  forbidden  days  they  may  upon  the  advice 
of  a  physician  eat  and  partake  of  eggs,  meat,  or  butter, 
cheese,  and  other  milk  products,  without  scruple  of  con- 
science, at  any  time.  Furthermore,  that  You  will  deign 
by  special  favour  and  indulgence  to  grant  permission  and 
authority  for  the  women  or  any  one  of  them  with  three 
or  four  respectable  women  to  be  entitled  and  empowered 
to  enter  four  times  a  year  with  permission  of  those  in 
charge  any  convents  of  nuns  of  any  order,  including  that 
of  St.  Clara,  and  to  eat  and  converse  with  the  nuns,  pro- 
vided they  do  not  stay  all  night,  any  regular  enactments 
or  ordinances  promulgated  by  the  Apostolic  Chancery  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding,  and  that  it  please  You  on 
this  occasion  specially  to  invalidate  these  and  all  other 
opposing  regulations  whatsoever  with  the  customary 
clauses. 

As  to  [power  to  remit  sins]  "reserved"  once  in  life  and  at  the 
moment  of  death  with  said  exceptions.' 

As  to  [power  to  remit]  those  not  reserved  to  the  Apostolic  See  as 
often  as  shall  be  necessary. 

As  to  commutation  of  vows,  with  said  exceptions,  and  release 
from  others. 

As  to  remission  with  plenary  absolution  once  in  life  and  at  the 
moment  of  death. 

As  to  a  portable  altar,  with  the  clause  "  before  day  "  and  places 
under  interdict,  as  above. 

That  they  may  attend  divine  service  and  receive  the  sacraments 
and  be  buried  at  times  of  interdict  as  set  forth. 

As  to  the  indulgences  for  the  Stations  of  the  City  through  visiting 
churches  or  altars  as  above. 

As  to  the  eating  of  meat,  eggs,  butter,  and  other  milk  products, 
at  forbidden  times  as  aforesaid. 

As  to  permission  to  enter  convents  of  nuns  for  women,  as  above. 


'  These  and  the  following  items  evidently  are  notes  upon  the 
petition  made  by  the  papal  notary  and  show  point  by  point  that  the 
requests  were  granted. 


76  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1506- 

With  invalidation  of  the  aforesaid  regulations  of  the  Chancery  for 
this  occasion  at  least. 

That  the  present  indulgence  shall  last  and  not  be  reckoned  as  re- 
called during  the  life  of  the  separate  petitioners. 

That  full  credence  be  accorded  these  presents  everywhere  when 
signed  by  a  notary  public  and  provided  with  the  seal  of  some  digni- 
tary of  the  Church  thereto  appointed. 

That  the  signing  of  this  petition  is  sufficient  in  itself  without  the 
despatching  of  other  document. 

That  the  provisions  may  be  competent  to  the  separate  petitioners 
without  mention  of  the  others. 

Granted  as  petitioned  in  presence  of  our  Lord  the 
Pope,  L[eonard  de  la  Rovere],  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Agen. 

G.   [C.  ?]    DE    RUBEIS, 

[On  the  back]  Phi[lippus?]  de  Senis,  Correct[or],' 

When  Zwingli  went  to  Italy  in  15 15  he  found  that 
the  agents  of  other  princes  had  made  the  Glareans 
disaffected  towards  the  Pope  and  ready  to  take  serv- 
ice under  the  French.  This  seemed  to  him  to  be 
disgraceful.  It  was  one  thing  to  help  the  Pope  and 
quite  a  different  thing  for  mere  money  to  fight 
against  the  Head  of  the  Church.  So  at  Monza, 
nine  miles  north-north-east  of  Milan,  while  preach- 
ing on  the  Feast  of  the  Nativity  of  the  Virgin,  Sat- 
urday, September  8th,  he  took  occasion  to  rebuke 
those  plotters  against  the  Pope.  But  the  French 
bribe  was  in  so  many  cases  successful  that  quite  a 
serious  defection  was  caused  in  the  Swiss  ranks, 
with  the  result  that  the  papal  troops  were  badly 
beaten  in  the  battle  of  Marignano,  ten  miles  south- 


'  Latin  text,  with  annotations,  in  E.  Egli's  Analecta  Reformatoria, 
i.,  13-16.  It  had  previously  been  given  less  accurately  in  Archiv 
fiir  die  sckweizcrische  ReforinationsgcschichtL\  iii.,  600,  601. 


1516]  At  Glarus  11 

east  of  Milan,  upon  September  14th  and  15th,  and 
their  reputation  as  the  Ever  Victorious  gone  for 
ever. 

The  correspondence  between  Zwingli  and  his 
friends  during  the  Glarean  period  is  the  earliest 
preserved  and  has  special  interest  as  showing  the 
kind  of  company  he  kept  in  his  opening  years  and 
how  he  was  gradually  developing  into  the  Reformer. 
It  sets  him  forth  as  very  tenderly  solicitous  for  his 
younger  brothers,  as  ready  to  serve  his  friends  and 
so  as  having  friends  ready  to  serve  him,  as  the  faith- 
ful teacher  of  several  promising  youths,  and  as  a  ris- 
ing Humanist.  He  possessed  a  library  of  remarkable 
size,  the  envious  admiration  of  his  friends,  devoting 
to  its  increase  the  papal  pension  he  received.  He 
was  deeply  interested  in  the  literary  events  of  the 
day  and,  like  other  friends  of  the  New  Learning, 
watched  eagerly  the  printing  -  press  to  see  what 
treasures  it  would  bring  forth.  His  friends  and 
pupils  praise  him  to  the  skies  as  a  paragon  of  learn- 
ing and  sum  of  all  the  virtues.  But  this  style  of 
talk  was  the  fashion  among  the  Humanists  and  often 
meant  only  that  the  person  addressed  and  his  corre- 
spondent belonged  to  the  same  literary  aristocracy. 
Zwingli  took  this  adulation  quietly  and  on  occasion 
returned  it.  Thus  he  addressed  the  really  great 
Erasmus  in  terms  of  the  grossest  flattery,  a  way  all 
the  latter's  friends  had.  From  this  letter  the  fact 
is  derived  that  so  profoundly  did  he  reverence 
Erasmus  that  he  never  went  to  sleep  at  night  with- 
out reading  a  little  in  his  works. 

The   letters    exchanged    between    Erasmus   and 


78  Huldreich  Zwingli  [^506- 

Zwingli  in  this  period,  which  have  been  preserved, 
are  here  given  ' : 

The  first  letter  is  from  Zwingli  to  Erasmus: 

"  To  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  great  philosopher  and 
theologian,  Huldreich  Zwingli  sends  greeting:  When  I 
am  about  to  write  to  you,  Dr.  Erasmus,  best  of  men,  I  am 
on  the  one  hand  frightened  by  the  lustre  of  your  learn- 
ing, which  demands  a  world  larger  than  the  one  we  see; 
and  on  the  other  hand  I  am  invited  by  that  well-known 
gentleness  of  yours  which  you  manifested  towards  me, 
when  in  the  early  spring  I  came  to  Basel  to  see  you,  for 
it  was  an  unusual  proof  of  kindness  that  you  did  not 
despise  a  man  who  is  a  mere  infant,  an  unknown  smat- 
terer.  But  you  have  granted  this  to  the  Swiss  blood 
(which  I  perceive  is  not  so  greatly  displeasing  to  you); 
you  have  granted  it  to  Henry  Glarean,  whom  I  see  you 
have  taken  into  intimacy  with  yourself. 

"  You  may  have  wondered  greatly  that  I  did  not  remain 
at  home,  since  [when  I  got  to  Basel]  I  did  not  even  seek 
the  solution  of  some  most  difficult  questions  (as  your 
own  vain  talkers  are  wont  to  do  from  you).  But  when 
you  discover  by  reflection  that  what  I  looked  for  in  you 
was  that  far-famed  efficiency  of  yours,  you  will  cease 
to  wonder.  For,  by  Hercules,  I  admire  boldly  and  even 
shamelessly  this  which  you  have  in  perfection,  together 
with  a  friendliness  of  manner  and  pleasantness  of  life. 
So  that  when  I  read  your  writings  I  seem  to  hear  you 
speaking  and  to  see  you,  with  that  finely  proportioned 
little  body  of  yours,  gesticulating  with  elegance.  For 
without  boasting  you  are  so  much  beloved  by  me  that  I 
cannot  sleep  without  first  holding  converse  with  you. 


'  VII.,  10,  12.     The  order  is  reversed  for  the  reasons  given  on  p.  8l. 


15 16]  At  Glarus  79 

"  But  why  am  I  wearying  your  most  learned  ears  with 
these  uncouth  sounds  ?  For  I  am  not  ignorant  that 
jackdaws  should  eat  from  the  ground.  Well,  that  you 
may  know  how  far  it  was  from  being  the  fact  that  I  was 
sorry  for  the  journey  that  I  made  to  see  you  (as  did  those 
Spaniards  and  Frenchmen,  who,  as  the  divine  Jerome 
says,  once  went  to  Rome  to  see  Livy),  I  think  that  I  have 
made  a  great  name  for  myself  and  make  my  boast  in  no- 
thing else  than  this,  that  I  have  seen  Erasmus  —  the  man 
who  has  deserved  most  highly  of  letters  and  the  secret 
things  of  Sacred  Scripture,  and  who  so  burns  with  love 
to  God  and  men  that  he  thinks  that  whatever  is  done  for 
the  cause  of  good  letters  is  done  for  himself.  All  good 
men  ought  to  pray  that  God  will  preserve  him  in  safety 
to  the  end  that  sacred  literature  freed  by  him  from  bar- 
barism and  sophistry  may  increase  to  a  more  perfect  age 
and  that  the  tender  shoots  bereaved  of  their  great  father 
may  not  be  left  without  protection  and  care. 

"  But  now,  to  bring  this  tragedy  to  a  close,  I  in  return 
for  all  those  kindnesses  which  you  have  shown  me  have 
given  you  what -^schines  gave  to  Socrates, —  though  not 
an  equal  value, —  myself.'  But  you  do  not  receive  this 
gift  which  is  not  worthy  of  you!  I  will  add,  more  than 
the  Corinthians  did  when  scorned  by  Alexander  —  that  I 
not  only  will  give  it  to  no  other  but  never  have  done 
so.  If  you  do  not  accept  it  even  thus,  it  will  be  sufficient 
to  have  been  repelled  by  you.  For  nothing  will  more 
contribute  to  the  correction  of  one's  life  than  to  have 


'  Allusion  to  the  speech  of  the  Athenian  philosopher  of  that  name, 
son  of  a  sausage  seller,  of  whom  Socrates  is  said  to  have  remarked 
that  the  sausage  seller's  son  alone  knew  how  to  honour  him.  Zwingli 
doubtless  derived  his  allusion  from  Seneca,  De  beneficiis,  I.,  viii.  In 
1522  Zwingli  invited  Erasmus  to  settle  in  Zurich.  See  Erasmus's 
reply,  vii.,  221. 


So  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1506- 

displeased  such  men.  So  whether  you  are  willing  or 
unwilling,  you  will,  I  hope,  restore  me  in  improved  con- 
dition to  myself.  Finally,  when  you  have  used  your  pos- 
session in  whatsoever  manner  is  pleasing  to  you,  farewell. 
"  Glarus,  April  29,  15 15." 

The  reply  of  Erasmus  was  this  : 

"  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam  to  Huldreich  Zwingli  at 
Glarus,  a  philosopher  and  theologian  most  learned,  a 
friend  beloved  as  a  brother:  Greeting. 

"  The  fact  that  you  are  so  well  disposed  towards  me 
has  been  a  very  great  delight  to  me,  as  is  your  letter, 
equally  sprightly  and  learned.  If  I  respond  in  short 
measure  to  this  last,  you  must  not  lay  it  up  against  me. 
For  by  these  labours,  which  seem  to  me  as  though  they 
would  never  be  finished,  I  am  often  compelled  to  be  less 
kind  than  I  would  be  to  those  to  whom  I  least  wish  to 
be  so;  but  to  myself  1  am  by  far  the  most  unkind,  drain- 
ing the  resources  of  my  intellect  which  not  even  a  quint- 
essence may  restore.  That  the  results  of  my  lucubrations 
are  approved  by  you,  so  approved  a  man,  greatly  rejoices 
me,  and  they  are  on  this  account  less  displeasing 
to  me. 

"  I  congratulate  the  Swiss,  whose  genius  I  particularly 
admire,  upon  the  fact  that  you  and  men  like  you  will 
embellish  and  ennoble  them  by  your  most  excellent  pur- 
suits and  customs,  with  Glareanus  as  leader  and  standard- 
bearer,  who  is  not  less  pleasing  to  me  on  account  of  his 
marked  and  varied  erudition  than  on  account  of  his  sin- 
gular purity  and  integrity  of  life  —  a  man,  too,  entirely 
devoted  to  yourself. 

"  It  is  my  intention  to  revisit  Brabant  immediately  after 
the  Feast  of  Pentecost;  at  least  so  things  are  tending. 


I5I6]  At  Glarus  Si 

But  I   do  not   willingly  tear   myself   away   from   these 
regions. 

"  Be  careful,  my  Huldreich,  to  use  the  pen  now  and 
then,  which  is  the  best  master  of  speech.  I  see  that 
Minerva  is  favourable  if  the  training  is  maintained.  I 
have  written  this  at  dinner,  at  the  request  of  Glareanus,' 
to  whom  I  can  deny  nothing,  no,  not  even  if  he  should 
tell  me  to  dance  stark  naked!     Farewell.     From  Basel." 

Allusions  in  letters  and  in  later  years  in  discourses 
fix  in  this  Glarean  period  several  important  events. 
First,  Zwingli's  study  of  Greek.  The  first  intima- 
tion that  he  was  thinking  of  beginning  this  study 
is  in   1510^;  but  he  does  not  seem  to  have  made 

'  Henry  Loriti  was  a  native  of  Glarus,  hence  his  pen-name.  This 
undated  letter  is  put  in  the  spring  of  the  year  15 14  in  the  Schuler 
and  Schulthess  edition  of  the  Zwingli  correspondence  (vii.,  10),  on 
the  ground  that  after  Pentecost  Erasmus  made  a  visit  to  Brabant. 
The  fact  that  Erasmus  commonly  did  not  date  his  letters  has  made 
the  exact  chronology  of  his  life  the  despair  of  his  biographers.  See 
Emerton's  Erasmus  in  this  series,  fassitn.  Staehelin  (i.,  80)  puts 
it  in  May,  1515,  on  these  grounds  :  (i)  that  the  way  Zwingli  begins 
his  letter  of  April  29,  1515,  is  not  consonant  with  the  reception  of 
so  friendly  an  epistle  ;  hence  that  letter  must  have  been  written 
before  the  Erasmus  letter.  (2)  Zwingli's  letter  does  not  imply  any 
epistolary  contact  between  them.  (3)  As  Glareanus  did  not  come 
to  Basel  till  the  spring  of  15 14,  he  would  hardly  in  that  year  have 
cemented  so  firm  a  friendship  as  Erasmus  testifies  to.  As  friendship 
depends  upon  common  tastes,  and  where  these  exist  is  a  plant  of 
very  rapid  growth,  this  third  ground  does  not  seem  very  strong. 
Erasmus  and  Glareanus  had  much  in  common.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  both  Erasmus  and  Glareanus  were  too  much  dissatisfied  later  on 
with  the  course  of  the  Reformation  to  follow  Luther  and  Zwingli 
into  the  restored  Christian  Church. 

*  Glarean    writes    to   him   in   that    year :   "  The   Introduction    [to 

Greek],  with  its  author,  you  will  learn  about  rather  at  Basel  than  at 

Cologne  (vii.,  2)." 
6 


82  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1506- 

a  real  start  till  15 13,  when,  writing  to  Vadian  on 
February  23/  he  says:  "  I  am  applying  my  igno- 
rant self  to  the  study  of  Greek  and  Latin.  I  do 
not  know  who  has  stirred  me  up  to  the  study  of 
Greek  unless  it  is  God ;  I  do  not  do  it  on  account 
of  glory,  for  which  I  do  not  look,  but  solely  for  the 
sake  of  Sacred  Literature."  In  1523,  in  his  ex- 
position of  the  Articles  of  the  first  disputation  of 
that  year,  he  says:  "  Ten  years  ago  I  began  the 
study  of  Greek  in  order  that  I  might  learn  the 
teaching  of  Christ  from  the  original  sources."  "  His 
progress  seems  to  have  been  reasonably  rapid,  espe- 
cially in  view  of  the  fact  that  he  had  apparently 
no  teacher.'     However,  a  little  knowledge  of  Greek 

'VII.,  9. 

"^  I.,  254.  Greek  study  in  Western  Europe  was  then  in  its  infancy. 
Teachers  were  scarce  and  text-books  were  scarcer  still.  The  only 
Greek  grammar  in  use  in  the  West  was  that  by  Emanuel  Chrysoloras 
(b.  at  Constantinople  1355  ;  d.  at  Constance  1415),  which  was  known 
as  the  Erotertiata,  the  Greek  title  meaning  "the  interrogatives," 
and  was  first  printed  in  Venice  in  1484,  and  frequently  afterwards 
in  different  places.  Zwingli  calls  it  the  "  Introduction  "  {Isagogeii) 
of  Chrysoloras  ;  and  as  Glareanus  (vii.  2)  speaks  of  an  "  Isagogen  " 
which  he  had  undertaken  to  translate,  but  had  to  lay  aside  from  ill 
health,  it  is  likely  that  he  refers  to  the  same  book.  Zwingli  asked 
Vadianus  what  he  (Zwingli)  should  take  up  after  he  had  finished  it 
(vii.,  9).  Glarean,  writing  from  Basel  on  October  24,  1516,  says: 
"  I  do  not  know  whether  you  have  a  Greek  dictionary  or  not.  If 
you  need  one  write  to  me  and  I  will  see  that  it  is  sent  you  at  once  " 
(vii.,  18).  The  lexicon  Zwingli  used  was  that  of  Suidas  (Milan, 
1499),  and  on  the  first  page  of  his  copy  he  wrote  in  Greek  :  "  TLlnl 
Tov  ZvyyXiov  Hcxl  tov  Hvpiov  /ii?fSaju(^i  xcxTaWa^aj  si  fitf 
^arepov  cxTtoBavovToi."  Cf.  Usteri,  //ii(ia  Z7('i>!g/ii  {''  Stud'ien 
u.  Kritiken,"  1885,  621).  The  book  was  in  the  Zwingli  exhibition 
at  Zurich,  Jan.  4-13,  18S4.     See  catalogue  of  the  same,  p.  9. 

^  At  least  Myconius,  writing  to  him  on  October  28,  1518,  says  :  "  I 


I5I6J  At  Glarus  83 

made  one  in  those  days  a  paragon  of  learning,  while 
if  one  joined  to  it  a  smattering  of  Hebrew  such  an 
accumulation  was  almost  superhuman,  and,  indeed, 
it  was  sometimes  hinted,  betrayed  Satanic  influence! 
Second,  his  emancipation  under  the  influence  of 
his  growing  knowledge  from  the  traditional  the- 
ology. He  was  able  to  make  the  most  of  his  ad- 
vantages. Thus,  in  his  preface  to  his  commentary 
on  Isaiah,'  he  writes: 

"  The  Lord  has  granted  that  from  boyhood  I  should 
come  by  reading  to  a  knowledge  of  things  divine  and 
human.  ...  In  this  round  of  studies  I  have  worked 
so  joyously  and  heartily  that  I  have  profited  whoever  the 
master  may  have  been,  yet  never  was  so  wedded  to  any 
that  I  was  not  willing  to  receive  the  teachings  of  others 
if  they  produced  anything  weightier  or  clearer  than  my 
master  for  the  time  being." 

His  earliest  teachers  in  systematic  divinitj'  were 
the  Basel  scholastics.  He  thus  describes  his 
emancipation : 

"  In  my  younger  days  I  was  as  much  devoted  to  worldly 
knowledge  as  any  of  my  age,  and  when  seven  or  eight 
years  ago  I  gave  myself  up  to  the  study  of  the  Bible  I 
was  completely  under  the  power  of  the  jarring  philoso- 
phy and  theology.  But  led  by  the  Scriptures  and  the 
Word  of  God  I  was  forced  to  the  conclusion :  you  must 
leave  them  all  alone  and    learn  the  meaning  of  the  Word 

ask    you  to    show  me    your    plan    for   studying    [Greek]   without   a 
teacher"  (vii.,  51,  52).     And  in  his  life  of  Zwingli  he  states  that  he 
(Zwingli)  learned  Greek  from  "lexicons  and  translations"  (p.  5)- 
•  v.,  547  sq. 


84  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1506- 

out  of  the  Word  itself.  So  I  asked  God  to  give  me  His 
light  and  then  the  Scriptures  began  to  be  much  more  in- 
telligible when  I  read  them  themselves  alone  than  when 
I  read  much  commentary  and  exposition  of  them.  Do 
you  not  see  that  was  a  sign  that  God  was  leading  me  ? 
For  I  never  could  have  come  to  such  a  conclusion  by 
my  own  small  understanding."  ' 

Two  men  had  a  large  part  in  this  emancipation. 
One  was  Giovanni  Pico  della  Mirandola,  who  was 
born  in  Mirandola  in  1463,  and  died  in  Florence 
in  1494.  He  had  in  the  winter  of  \4S6-Sy  pro- 
posed to  maintain  against  all  comers  nine  hun- 
dred theses  of  a  miscellaneous  character,  though 
predominantly  religious  and  theological,  but  the 
Pope  (Innocent  VIII.)  prohibited  the  discussion, 
and  thirteen  of  the  theses  were  selected  for  con- 
demnation.^    This  brousfht  him  into  disfavour  till  in 


'  I.,  79.     Cf.  Myconius,  p.  5. 

^  The  thirteen  obnoxious  theses  were  as  follows,  as  given  by  J.  M. 
Rigg  in  his  preface  to  his  translation  of  Sir  Thomas  More's  Giovanni 
Pico  della  Mirandola  (London,  1890),  pp.  viii,  ix  : 

1.  That  Christ  did  not  truly  and  in  real  presence,  but  only  quoad 
effectum  [in  effect],  descend  into  hell. 

2.  That  a  mortal  sin  of  finite  duration  is  not  deserving  of  eternal, 
but  only  of  temporal  punishment. 

3.  That  neither  the  cross  of  Christ,  nor  any  image,  ought  to  be 
adored  in  the  way  of  worship. 

4.  That  God  cannot  assume  a  nature  of  any  kind  whatsoever,  but 
only  a  rational  nature. 

5.  That  no  science  affords  a  better  assurance  of  the  divinity  of 
Christ  than  magical  and  cabalistic  science. 

6.  That  assuming  the  truth  of  the  ordinary  doctrine  that  God  can 
take  upon  himself  the  nature  of  any  creature  whatsoever,  it  is  pos- 
sible for  the  body  of  Christ  to  be  present  on  the  altar  without  the 


I5I6]  At  Glarus  85 

1493  Innocent's  successor,  Alexander  VI.,  acquitted 
him.  Zvvingli  had,  while  a  teacher  in  Basel,  approved 
of  at  least  some  of  these  theses,  although  which  ones 
is  unknown,  and  had  been  called  in  consequence  in 
certain  quarters  a  heretic,'  and  was  in  1510  still  in- 
terested in  Pico.'  Resemblances  have  been  traced 
between  Pico  and  Zwingli  on  such  points  as  the 
Eucharist,  providence,  and  predestination.' 

conversion  of  the  substance  of  the  bread  or  the  annihilation  of 
"  paneity  "  [the  state  of  being  bread]. 

7.  That  it  is  more  rational  to  believe  that  Origen  is  saved  than  that 
he  is  damned. 

8.  That  as  no  one's  opinions  are  just  such  as  he  wills  them  to  be, 
so  no  one's  beliefs  are  just  such  as  he  wills  them  to  be. 

g.  That  the  inseparability  of  substance  and  accident  may  be  main- 
tained consistently  with  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation. 

10.  That  the  words  "hoc  est  corpus  meum"  ["this  is  my  body"] 
pronounced  during  the  consecration  of  the  bread  are  to  be  taken 
"  materialiter  "  {i.  e.,  as  denoting  an  actual  fact)  and  not  "signifi- 
cative" (i.  e.,  as  a  mere  recital). 

11.  That  the  miracles  of  Christ  are  a  most  certain  proof  of  his 
divinity,  by  reason  not  of  the  works  themselves,  but  of  his  manner 
of  doing  them. 

12.  That  it  is  more  improper  to  say  of  God  that  he  is  intelligence, 
or  intellect,  than  of  an  angel  that  it  is  a  rational  soul. 

13.  That  the  soul  knows  nothing  in  act  and  distinctly  but  itself. 

'  Cf.   Myconius,  pp.  5,6;  Bullinger,  Keformationsgeschichte,  i.,  7. 

'  In  that  year,  Glareanus,  writing  to  Zwingli,  alludes  manifestly 
to  some  remark  of  the  latter  upon  Pico  (vii.,  2).  Several  of  Pico's 
books  are  now  in  the  collection  of  Zwingli's  books  in  Zurich.  See 
catalogue  of  the  Zwingli  exhibition  of  1884,  p.  9. 

*  C.  Sigwart  {Ulrick  Ziuhigli :  der  Character  seiner  Theologie  mit 
besonderer  Rucksicht  auf  Picus  von  Mirandida,  Stuttgart,  1855) 
made  this  comparison,  but  later  modified  his  views.  In  regard  to 
the  Eucharist,  Melanchthon  states  explicitly  that  Zwingli  confessed 
to  him  that  Erasmus  first  suggested  his  theory  {Corpus  Reforma- 
torum,  iv.,  970). 


86  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1506- 

But  Zwingli's  chief  emancipator  was  Erasmus.' 
In  1523,  he  thus  declares  his  indebtedness  to  him: 

"  I  will  not,  dearest  brethren  in  Christ  Jesus,  with- 
hold from  you  how  I  came  to  the  opinion  and  firm 
belief  that  we  require  no  other  mediator  than  Christ  ; 
also  that  between  God  and  us  no  one  can  mediate  ex- 
cept Christ  alone.  Eight  or  nine  years  ago  I  read  a 
consolatory  poem  on  the  Lord  Jesus,"  written  by  the 
profoundly  learned  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  in  which 
with  many  very  beautiful  words  Jesus  complaijis  that 
men  did  not  seek  all  good^-in  ^im,  so  that  He  might  be  to 
them  a  fountain  of  all  good,  a  Saviour.,-,  comfort  aijd 
treasure  of  the  soul.  So  I  reflected.  Well,  if  it  is  really 
so,  why  then  should  we  seek  help  of  any  creature  ?  And 
although  I  found  other  hymns  or  songs  by  the  same 
Erasmus  on  St.  Anna,  St.  Michael,  and  others,  in  which 
he  calls  upon  the  saints  of  whom  he  wrote  as  interces- 
sors, still  this  fact  could  not  deprive  me  of  the  know- 
ledge that  Christ  was  the  only  treasure  of  our  poor  souls; 
but  I  began  to  examine  the  biblical  and  patristic  writings 


'  The  position  of  Erasmus  among  the  young  Humanists  of  the  early 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century  had  many  points  of  similarity  to  that  of 
Matthew  Arnold's  among  the  college  men  of  the  United  States  thirty 
and  perhaps  twenty  years  ago.  Like  Arnold  he  was  read  by  the 
whole  set  and  sworn  to  with  all  a  young  man's  ardour.  His  scepti- 
cism, his  cynicism,  his  wit,  his  learning,  his  versatility  were  appre- 
ciated, but  by  no  means  implicitly  approved  by  those  who  read  him. 
There  was  a  fascination  about  him  even  to  those  who  knew  how  de- 
fective his  character  was.  Those  who  came  ultimately  to  quite  dif- 
ferent conclusions  were  grateful  to  Erasmus  for  having  exposed  the 
hoUowness  of  monkery  and  the  falsity  of  the  mediccval  claim  of  fin- 
ality for  the  scholastic  method. 

*  "  Expostulatio  Jesu  cum  homine  suapte  culpa  pereunte,"  Erasmi 
Opera  omnia,  Leiden  ed.,  v.,  cols.  1319,  1320. 


rsrfil  At  Glarus  87 

to  find  out  if  I  could  learn  from  them  concerning  the 
intercession  of  saints.  To  be  brief,  I  have  not  found  it 
at  all  in  the  Bible;  in  some  of  the  Fathers  I  have  found 
it,  in  others  not."  ' 

It  was  Erasmus  after  all  who  set  him  against 
the  scholastic  theology  and  in  favour  of  the  Bible, 
taught  him  to  value  the  classics  and  to  take  sensible 
views  in  general.  He  therefore  turned  to  the  Script- 
ures and  so  diligently  studied  them  that  his  know- 
ledge would  have  been  considered  remarkable  in  any 
age.  His  writings  abound  with  apt  quotations  from 
all  parts  of  the  Bible  and  of  such  a  character  that 
they  show  a  mind  saturated  with  it. 

It  was  during  this  Glarean  period  that  he  made 
two  discoveries  which  were  destined  to  have  a  de- 
cided effect  upon  all  his  thinking.  The  first  related 
to  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  He 
thus  tells  the  story: 

"  It  was  while  pastor  at  Glarus  that  I  came  across  at 
Mollis  [four  miles  north  of  Glarus]  an  Obsequial,  /.  ^.,  a 
book  for  baptismal,  burial,  and  benediction  services, 
which  although  old  was  in  respect  to  the  writing  com- 
plete, and  unaltered;  and  therein  stood  a  Latin  rubric, 
that  immediately  after  the  infant  had  been  baptised, 
'  then  shall  to  the  child  be  administered  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Eucharist,  including  the  chalice  containing 
the  blood.'  .  .  .  How  long  this  practice  was  ob- 
served in  the  canton  of  Glarus  I  have  not  been  able  to 
find  out,  but  surely  it  is  not  two  hundred  years  since 

'  I.,  298. 


88  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1506- 

that  in  Mollis  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered  in 
both  kinds."  ' 

The  second  was  made  while  campaigning  in  Italy, 
viz.:  that  the  mass-books  did  not  agree  exactly; 
especially  he  noted  the  variations  of  the  Ambrosian 
liturgy,  as  he  found  it  in  an  old  service-book  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Milan.  He  collected  such  books 
and  compared  them.  The  variations  were  slight, 
but  sufficient  to  disprove  the  claim  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  that  her  liturgy  was  the  same  in  all  times 
without  variation.'' 

His  life  in  Glarus  must  have  been  a  busy  one. 
His  parish  was  large,  and  yet  he  increased  his 
labours  by  teaching  the  classics.  He  was  a  hard 
student  himself  and  incited  an  enthusiasm  for  learn- 
ing in  his  pupils.  In  regard  to  the  duties  of  his 
office  he  says:  "  Young  as  I  was,  the  priestly  ofifice 
filled  me  with  more  fear  than  joy.  Because  I  knew 
and  still  know  that  the  blood  of  the  sheep  who 
perish  through  my  unfaithfulness  will  be  required 
at  my  hands,  so  have  I  ever  used  my  office  to  pro- 
mote peace."  '  Being  convinced  that  the  preacher 
needed  every  help  available,  he  read  widely  in  the 
classics,    studied   eloquence,*  and    for    purposes  of 

'  I.,  246.  '  III.,  87  sq.,  92.     For  Luther's  similar  discovery 

in  Milan,  see  Kostlin,  i.  io6. 

^  I-,  353*     This  was  said  in  1523  in  allusion  to  the  Glarean  period. 

*  It  is  conjectured  that  Zwingli  studied  the  treatise  by  the  Basel 
preacher,  Johannes  Ulricus  Surgant,  entitled  Maiiuale  curaiorum 
preJicandi  prebens  inoditm:  tain  latino  atijiie  vulgari  sermone  practice 
ilhitninatKtn  :  cum  certis  aliis  ad  curam  aniinatoriiin  pcrtincnti- 
bus  :  omnibus  curatis  tarn  conducibilis  atqite  salubris,  the  first  edition 
of  which  had  appeared  at  Basel  in  1503,  and  which  took  high  rank 


t3^* 


I5I6]  At  Glarus  89 

pulpit  illustration,'  memorised  Valerius  Maximus, 
the  Latin  author  who  has  so  industriously  collected 
anecdotes.  Unfortunately  no  specimen  or  descrip- 
tion of  his  preachinp"  during  this  period  has  been 
preserved,  except  the  very  vague  remark  of  his 
friend  and  earliest  biographer  that  he  **  preached 
gospel  grace  without  alluding  at  all,  or,  if  so,  very 
cautiously,  to  the  abuses  of  the  Church  of  Rome,"  ' 
and  the  equally  vague  remarks  of  one  who  had 
heard  him  only  once,  but  whose  object  in  writing  is 
to  contrast  him  with  his  successor,  of  whom  he 
gives  a  very  bad  account.'  But  that  he  had  won 
considerable  reputation  as  a  preacher  is  evinced 
by  his  being  subsequently  engaged  to  preach  at 
Einsiedeln,  the  most  famous  place  of  pilgrimage  in 
German-speaking  lands,  and  especially  at  the  feast 
of  the  "Angel  Dedication,"  when  it  was  particular- 
ly complimentary  to  be  asked,  as  only  renowned 
preachers  were  invited.* 

Part  of  his  growing  reputation   was  due  to  his 

as  a  manual  on  homiletics.  It  was  indeed  the  kind  of  book  Zwingli 
would  use,  but  there  is  no  proof  that  he  did,  as  it  is  nowhere  men- 
tioned by  him  or  in  any  letter  of  his  correspondents.  See  E.  Chris- 
ten, Zwingli  avant  la  re'forme  de  Zttrich  (Geneva,  1899),  p.  38. 

'  The  monks  were  in  the  habit  of  enlivening  their  sermons  with 
more  or  less  moral  tales.  And  so  in  this  respect  Zwingli  followed 
the  fashion  of  his  age.  Even  when  addressing  the  unlearned,  he 
interlarded  his  discourses  with  classical  references  and  allusions. 
But  the  rich  biblical  setting  he  gave  them  showed  that  he  was  no 
mere  pedant. 

'  Myconius,  p.  6,  who  had  just  spoken  of  his  studies  and  pulpit 
preparations,  p.  5. 

^  VII.,  165  sqq. 

*  See  next  chapter. 


90  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1506- 

stand  in  respect  to  the  mercenary  traffic,  that  curse 
and  shame  of  his  country,  which  he  early  deter- 
mined "utterly  to  root  out."  '  At  first  he  had  made 
an  exception,  as  has  been  already  remarked,  of  the 
papal  service,  but  he  soon  came  to  see  that  papal 
gold  was  just  as  corrupting  as  secular,  and  further 
that  the  Pope  as  a  warrior  was  not  a  whit  different 
from  other  princes,  indeed,  was  as  faithless  as  any- 
one else.  So  he  condemned  the  traffic  in  toto.  It 
had  originated  in  consequence  of  the  great  fame 
the  Swiss  had  made  as  soldiers  when  fighting  for 
their  country  against  Charles  the  Bold,  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, especially  by  the  victories  of  Granson  and 
of  Morat  in  1476.  It  was  then  customary  to  hire 
troops  wherever  they  could  be  gotten,  so  the  reput- 
ation of  the  Swiss  made  them  eagerly  sought  after. 
This  meant  that  foreign  princes  bid  against  each 
other  for  the  opportunity  of  hiring  them  and  were 
willing  to  pay  leading  Swiss  to  act  as  agents  in  this 
business.  Such  agents  were  called  pensionaries. 
Thus  prominent  families  were  interested  in  the 
traffic,  and  Zwingli's  opposition  brought  him  the  ill- 
will  of  these  persons.  But  his  opposition  was  made 
on  moral  grounds;  the  degeneracy  caused  by  contact 
with  foreign  lands,  and  the  deterioration  in  character 
involved  in  fighting  merely  for  money  excited  his 
rage  and  disgust,  and  having  been  with  the  mer- 
cenaries he  could  speak  from  personal  knowledge. 
Then,  too,  Glarus  was  during  the  sitting  of  the  Diet 
a  centre  of  this  disgraceful  business.  "  Every  day 
we  receive,"  he  testifies,  "  messengers  from  the 
'  Myconius,  p.  5. 


i5i6]  At  Glarus  91 

Pope  or  the  Emperor,  the  Milanese,  the  Venetians, 
the  Savoyards,  and  the  French,  and  send  others  to 
them."  '  It  will  be  readily  understood  that  his  per- 
petual preaching  against  the  pecuniary  interests 
of  leading  and  influential  Glareans  excited  counter 
demonstrations.  Men  always  resent  what  affects 
their  pockets,  and  so  when  these  leaders  and  the 
many  persons  of  lower  rank  who  were  more  or  less 
dependent  on  the  trafific  had  heard  the  young  priest 
hold  them  up  time  and  time  again  as  "  un-Swiss," 
as  dealers  in  the  souls  of  men,  and  in  other  uncom- 
plimentary terms,  they  determined  to  get  rid  of 
him.  The  rank  and  file  of  his  congregation  were 
devoted  to  him,  and  no  act  of  theirs  would  have 
severed  their  relation,  but  the  machinations  of  the 
pensionaries  and  their  beneficiaries  made  his  life  a 
burden,  and  so  in  the  spring  of  1516  he  announced 
his  intention  to  remove  to  Einsiedeln.' 

Excursus  on  the  Zwingli  Correspondence  in  General, 
and  on  that  of  the  Glarean  Period  in  Particular. 

Most  of  the  letters  printed  in  the  two  volumes  in  the  Schuler  and 
Schulthess  edition  (vii.  and  viii.)  devoted  to  the  Zwingli  correspond- 
ence are  addressed  to  him,  many  of  his  letters  having  perished.  As 
he  had  no  amanuensis,  at  least  not  prior  to  1524  (vii.,  328),  he  must 
have  written  his  letters  with  his  own  hand,  which,  as  he  had  an  ex- 
tensive correspondence,  was,  as  Myconius  tells  us,  a  laborious  task 

'  See  his  letter  to  Vadian,  February  23,  1513  (vii.,  9). 

*  See  his  letter  from  Einsiedeln,  June  13,  1517  (vii.,  24).  Cf.  a 
letter  to  him  from  a  friend  in  Glarus  (vii.,  161  sqq.),  alluded  to  above, 
written  on  January  23,  1 521,  which  states  that  it  was  Zwingli's 
criticism  of  the  pensionaries  which  compelled  his  departure,  and  in 
closing  alludes  to  the  sorrow  the  news  of  his  brother's  death  had 
caused  in  Glarus. 


92  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1506- 

p.  8).  Apparently  he  kept  no  copy  of  his  letters,  but  he  some- 
times made  a  translation  into  Latin  of  those  he  wrote  or  received 
in  German.  So  many  letters  in  the  volumes  given  are  in  two  lan- 
guages. Staehelin  published  in  18S7  five  new  letters  from  Zwingli, 
and  more  may  be  forthcoming.  A.  L.  Herminyard  has  incorporated 
in  his  monumental  Coi-respoiidance  dcs  Ji^fortnateurs  dans  les  Pays 
de  langue  Fran^aise  (vols.  i.  and  ii.,  2d  ed.,  Paris,  1878)  three  let- 
ters of  Zwingli  and  seventeen  to  him,  but  they  include  none  hitherto 
unknown,  and  one,  No.  82,  is  only  a  French  translation  of  the 
closing  part  of  Zwingli's  dedicatory  letter  addressed  to  Francis  I. 
in  sending  that  King  his  "  Commentary  on  True  and  False  Re- 
ligion."    But  Herminyard's  careful  annotations  are  very  welcome. 

Of  the  thirteen  letters  from  the  Glarean  period,  and  there  are  none 
earlier,  only  three  are  Zwingli's.  The  interest  which  attaches  to  the 
youth  of  distinguished  men  makes  it  proper  here  to  analyse  these 
thirteen  letters  in  order  that  the  associations  and  occupations  of 
young  Zwingli  may  be  discovered  as  far  as  may  be. 

I.  From  Glarean,  Cologne,  July  13,  1510  (vii.,  i,  2).  It  relates  to 
personal  and  literary  matters,  and  incidentally  shows  how  eagerly 
the  products  of  that  still  new  invention,  the  printing-press,  were 
awaited  by  scholars. 

II.  From  Vadian,  Vienna,  April  9,  1511  (vii.,  3).  It  relates  to  a 
common  friend  of  great  promise,  Argobast  Strub  of  Glarus,  whose 
memorial  volume  Vadian  transmits. 

III.  From  Glarean,  Cologne,  April  18,  1511  (vii.,  4,  5).  It  ac- 
knowledges receipt  of  Zwingli's  translation  into  Latin  of  the  verses 
on  "  The  Ox  and  the  other  Beasts,"  and  criticises  it  rather  severely, 
though  gently  as  became  their  friendship.     See  p.  71,  n. 

IV.  From  Glarean,  Cologne,  1511  (vii.,  5).  It  shows  that  Zwingli 
was  helping  him  secure  a  place  in  Basel,  whence  he  had  just  returned, 
and  in  connection  with 

V.  From  Johann  Heinrich  Wentz,  Basel,  1511  (vii.,  6),  relates  to  a 
mysterious  episode  in  Zwingli's  early  life.  It  appears  that  Zwingli 
probably  while  teaching  in  Basel  had  received  a  benefice  in  St.  Peter's 
church, but  he  had  so  much  neglected  its  probably  purely  formal  duties, 
whatever  they  were,  that  the  papal  Nuncio  (I'ucci)  had  drawn  up  the 
notice  of  excommunication,  but  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Wentz, 
who  was  rector  of  the  Basler  University  when  Zwingli  matriculated 
and  who  had  a  great  affection  for  him,  the  Nuncio  had  held  it  back 
for  a  while.     Wentz  implores  Zwingli  to  treat  the  matter  seriously 


^5i6]  At  Glarus  93 

and  do  what  was  necessary  to  avoid  the  disgrace  of  being  excom- 
municated. Nothing  more  is  known  of  the  affair.  Wentz  died  Janu- 
ary 25,  1518.  See  vii.,  33.  Staehelin  thinks  (i.,  54)  that  iv.  and  v. 
should  change  places.  There  probably  is  in  Pucci's  letter  of  Sept. 
I,  1518,  offering  Zwingli  a  papal  acolyte  chaplaincy  (see  next 
chapter),  allusion  to  this  with  other  ecclesiastical  disabilities  still 
existing  from  which  he  desired  to  absolve  Zwingli,  when  he  writes: 
"  In  case  you  are  involved  in  any  way  in  any  ecclesiastical  judgments, 
censures,  or  penalties  of  excommunication,  suspension,  interdict, 
or  of  other  nature,  imposed,  by  law  or  by  man  upon  any  occasion 
or  for  any  cause,  we  absolve  you." 

VI.  From  Zwingli  to  Vadian,  Glarus,  October  4,  1512  (vii.,  7). 
Already  given  in  full,  pp.  61,  62. 

VII.  From  James  Zwingli,  Vienna,  February  20,  1513  (vii.,  7,  8). 
Already  given  in  full,  pp.  62,  63. 

VIII.  From  Zwingli  to  Vadian,  Glarus,  February  23,  1513  (vii., 
8,  9).     Already  quoted,  p.  82. 

IX.  From  Johann  Dingnauer,  Kilchberg,  on  the  Lake  of  Zurich, 
December  6,  1514  (vii.,  9,  10).  It  gives  him  an  invitation  to  come 
and  see  him  and  incidentally  alludes  to  Erasmus's  high  opinion  of 
Zwingli.  Zwingli  recommended  Dingnauer  to  Winterthur,  sixteen 
miles  north-east  of  Zurich,  as  pastor  (vii.,  30). 

X.  From  Erasmus,  Basel,  15 14,  more  likely  15 15  (vii.,  10).  Al- 
ready given  in  full,  pp.  80,  81. 

XI.  From  Peter  Falk,  January  23,  1515  (vii.,  11,  12).  Falk  was 
a  prominent  citizen  of  Freiburg  in  Switzerland,  twenty  miles  south- 
west from  Bern.  He  offered  Zwingli  the  free  use  for  two  years 
of  a  house  in  Pavia,  iialy,  and  of  a  farm  at  Casale,  thirty-five 
miles  west  of  Pavia,  with  the  services  of  a  farmer  to  look  after  it ! 

XII.  From  Zwingli  to  Erasmus,  Glarus,  April  29,  1515  (vii.,  12, 
13).     Already  given  in  full,  pp.  78-80. 

XIII.  From  Valentine  Tschudi,  Basel,  July  31,  1515  (vii.,  13,  14). 
Tschudi  was  one  of  Zwingli's  pupils  at  Glarus,  and  his  successor 
there  in  1522  (see  p.  120).  He  expresses  his  gratitude  and  speaks  of 
his  present  studies  under  Glarean.  He  died  in  1555.  See  Schuler, 
ZwingWs  Bildungsgeschichte,  pp.  319,  320. 


CHAPTER    III 

AT   EINSIEDELN 
1516-1518 

ZWINGLI    in   writing   to   Vadianus    from    Ein- 
siedeln  on  June   13,    1517,  thus  explains  his 
leaving  Glarus: 

"  I  have  changed  my  residence,  not  at  the  stimulus  of 
desire  or  of  avarice,  but  because  of  the  wiles  of  the 
French;  and  now  I  am  at  Einsiedeln.  .  .  .  What 
disaster  that  French  faction  has  at  last  wrought  me  the 
wind  of  rumour  has  doubtless  wafted  to  you.  In  the 
things  done  I  too  have  had  a  part,  but  I  have  borne  or 
have  learned  to  bear  many  misfortunes."  ' 

It  was  on  Monday,  April  14,  15 16,  that  Theobold, 
or  as  he  was  also  called,  Diebold,  von  Hohen- 
geroldseck,  administrator  of  the  monastery  at  Ein- 
siedeln, met  Zwingli  in  the  castle  at  Pfaeffikon,  on 
the  southern  shore  of  the  Lake  of  Zurich,  twenty 
miles  from  that  city,  but  only  about  five  miles  north 
of  Einsiedeln,  to  discuss  his  going  to  Einsiedeln 
as  people's  priest.  The  interview  being  mutually 
satisfactory,  the  papers  were  witnessed  by  his  uncle, 
Johann  Meili,  abbot  'of  Fischingen,  and  his  former 
teacher,    Gregory   Buenzli,    pastor   at    Wesen,   and 

'VII.,  24. 

94 


[1516-1518]  At  Einsiedeln  95 

sealed  by  the  administrator  and  by  Zwingli.  He 
was  promised  a  salary  of  twenty  florin  a  year,  pay- 
able quarterly,  and  also  an  income  from  gifts, 
masses,  and  confessional  fees  of  the  abbey  church.' 

'  See  the  contract  in  Hottinger,  Hist,  eccl.,  viii.,  24-26  ;  better 
and  with  explanatory  notes  in  Egli,  Analecta  Reformatoria,  i.,  i6- 
19,  which  translated  reads  thus  : 

Contract  of  Zwingli  with  the  Administrator  of  the  Convent  of 
Einsiedeln. 

"  In  the  name  of  the  Lord,  Amen.  Whereas  the  Reverend  Father 
and  Lord  in  Christ,  Domine  Theobold  von  Hohengeroldseck,  Admin- 
istrator of  the  monastery  of  Einsiedeln,  upon  whom  devolves  the 
care  of  the  pastoral  office,  which  is  greatest  of  all,  cannot  by  himself 
attend  to  so  many  things,  and  lest  the  blood  of  those  under  him  be 
required  at  his  hands,  also  because  these  hands  are  kept  busy  with 
greater  duties,  he  has  provided  for  himself  one  to  whom  he  can  with- 
out anxiety  assign  a  part  of  his  burdens,  appointing  as  his  substitute 
in  the  curacy  the  worshipful  gentleman,  Domine  Huldreich  Zwingli, 
Master  of  Arts.  Inclined  thereto  by  the  petition  and  the  character 
of  the  aforesaid  worshipful  gentleman,  he  willingly  designates  him 
vicar  or  people's  priest  of  the  aforesaid  monastery  of  Einsiedeln, 
observing  the  customary  stipulations  and  articles  of  agreement,  not 
because  any  lack  of  confidence  exists  on  either  side,  but  for  the 
greater  security,  in  view  of  the  instability  of  man. 

"  In  accordance  therewith  it  has  been  duly  covenanted  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  honourable  gentlemen  named  below  and  at  the  place  and 
time  indicated  : 

"  First,  that  he  shall  obey  the  Lord  Abbot  or  his  Administrator  in 
all  things  lawful  and  right  ;  shall  watch  over  the  advancement  and 
interest  of  the  monastery,  and  guard  it  from  loss  and  injury  in 
every  way  in  his  power,  and  shall  preside  over  those  placed  under 
his  pastoral  care  as  becomes  a  good  and  upright  pastor,  and  minister 
unto  them  with  all  diligence. 

"  Secondly,  it  has  been  covenanted  that  the  aforesaid  Master  Huld- 
reich with  his  assistant '  shall  dine  at  the  regular  table  in  the  refec- 
tory of  the  monastery,  while  the  Lord  Administrator  shall  receive 

'  Zwingli's  assistant  was  Master  Lukas.     See  vii.,  29,  167,  184,  226. 


96  Huldreich  ZwingJi  [1516- 

He  did  not,  however,  take  up  his  residence  at 
Einsiedeln  until  October  of  that  year,  1516,'  and  he 
remained  pastor  of  Glarus  till  he  went  to  Zurich. 
He  so  signs  himself  on  October  30,  15 17,  when 
writing  to  the  chief  magistrate  of  Winterthur';  his 
name  so  appears  upon  the  official  records,  and  he 
drew  the  parish  income  and  out  of  it  paid  his 
"  vicar  "  or  substitute.  His  people  were  anxious 
to  retain  him  and  promised  to  rebuild  his  house  if 

the  tithes,  the  revenues  from  the  Martyrologium,'  and  a  part  of  the 
confession  money,  leaving  to  Master  Huldreich  the  offerings  and 
burial  fees,  and  he,  the  Lord  Administrator,  to  wit,  shall  give  the 
same  twenty  florins  a  year,  sixteen  batzen  to  the  florin,  payable 
quarterly. 

"  Thirdly,  the  Lord  Administrator  promises  that  when  any  bene- 
fice which  belongs  to  his  jurisdiction  becomes  vacant,  he  will  make 
provision  for  the  aforesaid  Master  Huldreich  from  the  same,  pro- 
vided that  he  shall  first  relinquish  the  right  to  his  own  benefice  at 
Glarus. 

"  Given  in  presence  of  the  following  witnesses,  to  wit : 

"  The  Reverend  Father  and  Lord  in  Christ,  Domine  John,  Abbot 
of  Fischingen  ;  the  worshipful  gentleman,  Domine  Master  Gregory 
[Buenzli],  people's  priest  at  Wesen  ;  the  worshipful  Domine  Master 
Melchior  Stoker,  people's  priest  at  Freienbach  [on  Lake  Zurich,  six- 
teen miles  south-west  of  the  city];  and  the  worshipful  Domine  Master 
Zinck  of  Castle  Pfeffingen  [Pfaeffikon]. 

"  In  witness  whereof  the  Seal  of  the  Convent  of  the  aforesaid 
Monastery  has  been  afifixed,  and  the  Lord  Administrator  and  Master 
Huldreich  have  affixed  their  seals  this  fourteenth  day  of  April,  in  the 
year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixteen." 

'  This  comes  out  in  his  correspondence,  which  incidentally  shows 
that  he  was  in  Glarus  most  of  August  and  September  {cf.  vii.,  15, 
17).  But  Glareanus,  writing  from  Basel  in  October,  1516  (vii.,  18), 
implies  that  Zwingli  was  already  removed  to  Einsiedeln. 

*VII.,  30. 

•  In  the  back  of  this  book  the  names  of  benefactors  of  the  monastery  were 
inscribed. 


i5i8]  At  Einsiedeln  97 

he  would  stay.  They  were  proud  of  his  reputation 
for  scholarship,  of  his  large  library,  of  his  musical 
skill,  of  the  friends  he  had  made,  and  of  his  de- 
voted pupils,  and  of  his  rise  from  obscurity  to  pro- 
minence among  the  Swiss.  They  knew  what  an 
excellent  preacher  he  was,  how  faithful  a  pastor, 
how  firm  a  friend,  how  enthusiastic  a  patriot,  how 
generous,  how  jovial,  how  self-sacrificing,  in  short, 
what  a  fine  man  he  was.  But  his  enemies,  though 
far  less  numerous  than  his  friends,  were  equally  de- 
termined and  compelled  his  departure. 

The  feeling  of  dismay  with  which  his  pupils  heard 
that  he  had  left  Glarus  is  expressed  by  one  of  them 
who  wrote:  "  What  could  possibly  have  happened 
more  saddening  for  our  Glarus  than  to  be  bereft  of 
so  great  a  man!  "  '  He,  on  his  side,  returned  love 
for  love.  Writing  to  a  friend  in  October,  1522,  he 
thus  speaks  of  his  pleasant  relations  with  Glarus: 

"  I  lived  in  such  a  peaceful  and  friendly  manner  with 
my  lords  in  Glarus  that  we  never  had  the  smallest  diffi- 
culty, and  went  away  in  such  favour  that  they  allowed 
me  for  two  years  to  receive  the  income  of  the  living,  in 
the  hope  that  I  would  come  back;  and  indeed  I  should 
if  I  had  not  been  called  to  Zurich;  and  moreover  on  my 
resignation  they  made  me  a  present  of  twenty  gulden 
towards  recouping  me  for  the  cost  of  the  lawsuit.  For 
the  living  cost  me  much  more  than  one  hundred 
gulden."  " 

To  this  congregation  he  dedicated  his  first  consider- 

'VII.,  17. 

*  The  letter  is  given  in  German  and  Latin,  but  in  both  forms  is 
unfinished.     See  vii.,  237,  and  page  68  of  this  volunae. 


9^  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1516- 

able  writing  in  behalf  of  the  Reformation,  "  The  Ex- 
position of  the  Articles,"  Zurich,  1523,  in  this  fashion : 
"  To  the  honourable,  prudent,  wise  Chief  Magis- 
trate, Council,  and  Congregation  of  the  Canton 
Glarus,  from  of  old  time  Christians  and  Confeder- 
ates." '  He  further  says,  "  I  have  dedicated  this 
treatise  to  you,  once  my  dear  flock,  now  gracious 
lords  and  dear  brethren  in  Christ,  in  order  that  I 
might  attest  my  gratitude  for  the  trust  and  honour 
you  have  shown  me,"  "  and  signs  himself,  "  Ever 
your  obedient  servant."  ' 

But  the  change  which  he  made,  however  it  was 
caused,  and  however  he  and  others  regarded  it,  was 
one  of  the  providential  preparations  for  the  part  he 
was  destined  to  play  in  history. 

Einsiedeln  lies  on  a  plain  which  extends  south- 
wards from  near  the  Lake  of  Zurich.  It  is  distant 
only  twenty  miles  from  Zurich,*  in  a  south-east- 
erly direction,  but  much  off  the  beaten  track  of 
travel,  requiring  a  special  journey.  It  was  in  two 
other  respects  a  great  contrast  to  Glarus.  It  was 
a  small  place  and  it  lacked  the  striking  mountain 
scenery  surrounding  Glarus.  But  it  was  then  as 
to-day  the  most  famous  place  of  pilgrimage  in 
Switzerland  and  all  Southern  Germany,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  divinely  dedicated  shrine  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  where  miracles  were  and  are  believed 
to  be  wrought.  Plenary  indulgence  also  rewards 
the  worshippers  there.     Over  the  entrance  of  the 


'  I..  170.  3 1.,  174. 

'  I.,  172.  *  Zwingli  calls  it  a  six  hours'  journey  (vii.,  59). 


i5i8]  At  Einsiedeln  99 

monastery  appeared  the  legend  :  "  Here  is  full  remis- 
sion of  all  sins  both  from  the  guilt  and  punishment." 
The  pilgrims  came  in  large  numbers  and,  as  they 
were  of  all  grades,  there  was  a  fine  opportunity  for  a 
man  of  Zwingli's  temperament  and  disposition  to 
make  wide  and  desirable  acquaintance.  This  was 
precisely  what  happened.  And  so  his  fame  spread 
as  it  might  not  otherwise  have  done. 

The  story  of  Einsiedeln  '  is  worth  repeating.  The 
name  comes  from  ''  emsiedler,''  a  hermit;  hence 
the  Latin  name  for  the  place  is  '^Er  emit  arum  Coeno- 
biiim.''  Meinrad  was  the  hermit  from  whom  it  de- 
rived its  origin.  He  was  a  native  of  Rottenburg, 
twenty-five  miles  south-west  of  Stuttgart,  but  was 
educated  in  the  famous  Benedictine  abbey  school 
on  the  island  of  Reichenau  in  the  Untersee,  three 
and  one  half  miles  north-west  of  Constance,  and  after 
a  brief  experience  as  a  secular  priest  became  a  monk 
in  that  monastery.  At  some  later  date  he  was  sent 
to  teach  at  the  abbey's  branch  school  at  Oberbol- 
lingen,  on  the  Lake  of  Zurich,  near  its  eastern  end 
and  twenty  miles  from  Zurich.  Across  the  lake 
were  mountains  and  dense  forests,  and  as  he  day  by 
day  gazed  towards  them  he  was  seized  with  the  de- 
sire to  bury  himself  in  those  solitudes  and  so  cut 
himself  off  from  contact  with  men.  Accordingly  he 
crossed  the  lake  in  the  year  829  and  made  his  way 
to  the  pass  of  the  Etzel,  a  small  mountain  a  couple 
of  miles   south   of   the   Lake   of  Zurich   and   some 


'  The  information  here  given  about  Einsiedeln  comes  mainly  from 
the  scholarly  book  of  Odilo  Ringholz,  Wallfahrtsgeschichte  unserer 
lieben  Frau  von  Einsiedeln^  Freiburg  im  Breisgau,  1896. 


loo  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1516- 

twenty  miles  south-east  of  Zurich,  and  lived  on  the 
spot  for  some  seven  years.  He  had  the  same  ex- 
perience which  distressed  many  other  hermits  —  his 
solitude  was  invaded  —  so  he  removed  to  another 
spot  in  the  "  Gloomy  Forest,"  as  the  forest  was 
called,  to  the  plain  where  Einsiedeln  is  built,  about 
four  miles  south  of  his  first  abode.  There  beside 
a  spring  he  put  up  his  hut  and  a  little  place  for 
prayer.  On  Tuesday,  January  21,  861,  he  was  vis- 
ited by  two  men  who,  probably  under  the  misap- 
prehension that  he  had  hidden  treasure,  murdered 
him.  Forty  years  later  there  were  a  number  of 
hermits  living  where  the  martyr  had  fallen.  Thirty 
years  more  and  the  huts  had  been  abandoned  for  a 
regular  conventual  building.  In  948  the  chapel  of 
Meinrad  was  enclosed  in  a  church.  Conrad,  Bishop 
of  Constance,  in  whose  diocese  Einsiedeln  was  till 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  came  down  to  de- 
dicate this  enclosing  church  to  the  Virgin  Mary  and 
the  holy  martyr  Mauritius,  and  at  the  same  time 
St.  Meinrad's  chapel  to  the  Virgin  Mary.  But  at 
midnight  preceding  the  day  set  for  the  dedication, 
(Thursday,  Sept.  14,  948)  while  the  Bishop  and 
some  of  the  monks  were  praying  in  the  church,  they 
heard  angelic  voices  singing  in  the  chapel  the  de- 
dicatory service.  Consequently  he  refused  the  next 
day  to  undertake  the  duty  for  which  he  had  come, 
as  far  as  the  chapel  was  concerned,  declaring  that 
it  had  already  been  consecrated  and  in  a  sublime 
manner.  But,  over-persuaded,  he  proceeded  to 
read  the  service.  Scarcely  had  he  begun,  when  a 
voice  was  heard    by  all,   saying,   "  Stop,   brother. 


I5I81  At  Einsiedeln  loi 

God  has  already  dedicated  the  chapel."  The 
speaker  was  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  so  the  dedication  is  known  as  the 
Angelic  Dedication;  in  German  "  Ejigehueihe," 
meaning  by  "  angel  "  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.' 

The  fact  of  the  Angelic  Dedication  is  attested 
in  the  alleged  Bull  of  Leo  VIIL,  which  is  dated 
Nov.  II,  964,  or  only  eighteen  years  after  the  al- 
leged event ;  but  unfortunately  there  is  some  doubt 
about  the  Bull's  genuineness.'  The  Bull,  whether 
genuine  or  not,  promises  plenary  indulgence  to  those 
who  visit  the  chapel,  and  so  has  played  an  import- 
ant part  in  attracting  visitors. 

The  legend  respecting  the  Angelic  Dedication  can 
be  traced  in  writing  to  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth 
century.'  According  to  this  writing  God  the  Son 
came  down  from  heaven  attended  by  the  Virgin 
Mary,  angels,  and  saints,  and  the  angels  and  saints 
took  part  in  the  dedicatory  services.  Pilgrimages 
to  the  chapel  date  surely  from  the  middle  of  the 
tenth  century.  The  number  of  pilgrims  fell  off  in 
the  opening  years  of  the  Reformation  but  rose 
again.  It  is  claimed  that  now  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  visit  the  shrine  annually,  mostly 
from  Switzerland  and  South  Germany.  The  chapel 
in  consequence  of  its  supposed  miraculous  dedica- 
tion was  considered  particularly  sacred  to  the 
Virgin    Mary."     Over  it,  so  as  to   enclose   it,  was 

'  So  Ringholz  derives  the  term,  pp.  31 1,  312. 
"  Ringholz,  p.  312.  ^  Ringholz,  p.  350. 

*  "  More  gracious  than  elsewhere  is  here  the  help  of  the  Godhead  ; 
And  more  on  her  altars  the  presence  of  Mary  works  wonders." 
Glarean,  Descriptio  de  situ  Helvetia. 


I02  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1516- 

built  a  church,  and  around  the  church  other  ecclesi- 
astical buildings.  Into  its  famous  monastery  down 
to  the  Reformation  only  the  higher  nobility  found 
entrance,  as  the  dean,  Albrecht  von  Bonstetten, 
writes  in  1494:  "  This  church  and  monastery  should 
be  a  place  of  refuge  to  princes,  counts,  barons,  and 
heads  of  societies,  according  to  the  documents  and 
immemorial  usage."  '  It  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  that  the  members  of  a  monastery  thus  recruited 
showed  small  interest  in  spiritual  affairs.  Fewer  and 
fewer  would  assume  the  responsibility  of  member- 
ship in  the  chapter.  So  at  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century  only  two  such  members  are  met 
with,  the  princely  abbot  Conrad  III.  of  Hohenrech- 
berg  and  the  administrator,  Diebold  von  Geroldseck. 
It  was  to  the  latter  that  Zwingli  applied  for  the 
position  of  minister  at  Einsiedeln.' 

The  chapel  of  Meinrad  has  always  been  of  course 
the  central  point  of  the  pilgrim's  attention.  This 
chapel,  when  Zwingli  saw  it,  was  not  in  the  shape 
in  which  it  was  when  the  alleged  Angelic  Dedication 

'  Ringholz,  p.  19. 

'  It  is  every  way  likely  that  Zwingli  directly  or  indirectly  applied 
to  Diebold,  as  Ringholz  asserts  (p.  19).  The  two  were  acquainted, 
and  Zwingli  had  already  made  a  sufficient  reputation  as  a  preacher 
to  be  welcomed  there.  In  1527  Diebold  left  Einsiedeln,  having 
come  over  to  the  Reformation.  He  lived  henceforth  in  Zurich, 
and  went  forth  with  Zwingli  to  the  fatal  field  of  Cappel,  and  there 
died  at  his  side. 

Abbot  Conrad  staid,  however,  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
but  resigned  his  office  in  1526  on  account  of  old  age.  Though  the 
Reformation  did  not  entirely  disrupt  the  monastery,  it  was  a  stagger- 
ing blow,  from  which,  however,  it  recovered,  and  Einsiedeln  is  to- 
day a  purely  Roman  Catholic  centre. 


i5i8]  At  Einsiedeln  103 

took  place,  for  that  chapel  had  been  accidentally 
burnt  in  1465,  and  a  new  one  built  the  next  year, 
using  the  old  walls  which  had  survived  the  fire.  In 
16 1 7  it  was  covered  with  marble  and  otherwise 
decorated.  In  1798  the  French  destroyed  it  and 
scattered  its  materials  through  the  village,  but  they 
were  regathered,  and  the  present  graceful  structure 
erected  on  the  site  of  the  former  chapel.  Over  the 
old  altar  of  the  chapel  from  time  immemorial  there 
has  stood  a  figure  of  the  Virgin  and  Child.  It  is 
now,  and  has  long  been,  covered  with  gorgeous 
vestments.  When  these  are  removed  it  is  revealed 
that  the  figure  is  of  wood ;  the  Virgin  wears  a  simple 
single  garment  extending  to  the  feet  and  bound 
around  the  waist  with  a  narrow  girdle ;  while  the 
child  is  entirely  nude.  The  child  is  carried  on  the 
left  arm  and  hand.  His  right  hand  is  raised  in 
blessing;  his  left  presses  gently  to  his  bosom  a  little 
bird  which  lightly  pecks  his  finger — a  representation 
of  the  miracle  of  making  the  sparrows  out  of  clay 
told  of  the  infant  Jesus  in  the  Apocryphal  gospels.' 
The  face  and  hands  of  the  Virgin  and  the  entire 
body  of  the  child  are  now  painted  black,  but  origin- 
ally they  were  flesh-coloured.  It  is  not  known 
when  or  where  the  figure  originated.  It  is  first  men- 
tioned in  the  year  13 15.' 


'  Pseudo-Matthew,  chap,  xxvii.  ;  Gospel  of  Thomas,  first  Greek 
form,  2  ;  second  Greek  form,  3  ;  Latin  form,  chap.  iv. ;  Infancy  of 
the  Saviour,  36. 

'  Ringholz,  p.  35.  Ringholz  does  not  seem  to  be  willing  to  repeat 
the  old  stories  of  its  miraculous  origin,  but  he  has  full  faith  in  its 
wonder-working  equalities.     One  sees  in  the  church  to-day  crutches 


I04  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1516- 

The  Angelic  Dedication  of  the  chapel  said  to 
have  taken  place  in  the  year  948  was  originally  com- 
memorated every  year  ;  but  from  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century  only  every  seven  years  by  a 
fourteen  days'  festival;  from  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century  only  when  the  14th  of  September 
fell  on  Sunday,  and  fourteen  days  thereafter.  This 
is  the  present  custom.  Such  is  called  the  major 
celebration.  But  every  year  on  September  14th  there 
is  a  celebration  lasting  a  single  day,  whatever  may 
be  the  day  of  the  week.  The  year  Zwingli  went  to 
Einsiedeln,  viz.,  15 16,  the  14th  of  September  fell 
on  Sunday,  and  so  there  was  that  year  the  major 
celebration,  and  he  went  to  Einsiedeln  to  celebrate 
it.  Such  a  celebration  did  not  occur  during  15 17  or 
1 5 1 8.  On  each  of  the  two  or  sometimes  on  the  three 
Sundays  of  the  great  festival  there  are  two  sermons, 
and  these  would  fall  to  Zwingli  to  deliver  as  preacher 
of  the  abbey.  Before  the  Reformation  the  selection 
of  preacher  was  simply  on  the  idea  of  having  the 
best  available  talent,  but  since  then  choice  has  been 
generally  limited  to  the  preaching  orders.  The 
subject  of  the  sermons  is  assigned  by  the  abbot, 
who  in  1522  appointed  the  Gospel  of  Luke.  Dis- 
putations on  theological  and  philosophical  things 


and  other  appliances  which  have  been  left  by  those  who  were  cured 
at  the  shrine.  Pope  Julius,  in  his  Bull,  "  Pastoris  ^terni,"  testifies 
to  such  cures  (Ringholz,  p.  343).  In  Zwingli's  day  they  had  no 
questioners.  But  in  this  sceptical  age  more  is  required  than  simply 
the  exhibition  of  casts  or  surgical  inventions  to  secure  belief  in  the 
tales  of  cure,  and  those  seen  in  the  church  on  August  20,  1897,  were 
rather  old,  as  if  there  had  not  been  any  cases  of  cure  there  recently. 


VIRGIN   AND  CHILD  IN  CHAPEL  AT  EINSIEDELN. 


i5i8]  At  Einsicdeln  105 

were  a  feature  of  these  festivals.  On  every  Sunday 
of  the  year  and  on  all  festival  days  of  the  Church 
there  was  preaching  and,  as  Einsiedeln  was  always 
full  of  strangers,  the  preachers  were  sure  of  an 
audience  and  to  have  reports  of  their  sermons  car- 
ried far  away. 

The  town  of  Einsiedeln  now  numbers  some  nine 
thousand  inhabitants,  mostly  engaged  in  minister- 
ing to  the  needs  of  pilgrims.  It  doubtless  pre- 
sented the  same  general  appearance  in  Zwingli's 
day  that  it  does  at  present.  Going  thither  to 
escape  the  petty  but  persistent  persecution  of  the 
French  party  he  found  himself  congenially  situ- 
ated. The  library  of  the  monastery  was  already 
large,  and  he  had  means  put  at  his  disposal  to  in- 
crease it.'  Both  the  abbot  and  the  administrator 
were  friendly  to  the  New  Learning — the  latter  was 
indeed  a  man  of  some  scholarship ' ;  and  there  were 
constantly  coming  thither  scholars  and  prominent 
persons  from  all  parts.  His  duties  as  preacher  did 
not  claim  all  his  time,  and  as  he  had  the  true  stu- 
dent's insatiable  thirst  for  knowledge,  he  made  the 
most  of  his  opportunities,  and  laid  in  a  considerable 
increment  to  those  stores  of  learning  he  had  already 
collected.  It  was  in  this  Einsiedeln  period  that  he 
always  dated  his  arrival  at  evangelical  truth.  He 
was  at  all  events,  then,  confirmed  in  that  rejection 
of  the  scholastic  method  and  theology  which  were 


'  See  the  letter  of  Glareanus,  who  acted  as  his  literary  agent,  of 
October  24,  15 16  (vii.,  17).  Zwingli  alludes  to  his  facilities  for 
study. 

» VII.,  59. 


io6  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1516- 

in  vogue,  and  had  turned  to  the  Bible  as  the  suffi- 
cient revelation  of  the  will  of  God,  and  used  the 
Fathers  as  helpful  but  fallible  interpreters  of  the 
Word. 

In  August,  1 5 18,  the  Franciscan  monk,  Bern- 
hardin  Samson,  or  as  he  signed  himself  in  his  let- 
ters of  indulgence,  Sanson,  made  his  appearance  in 
Switzerland  as  the  papally  commissioned  seller  of 
indulgences  to  the  Swiss.  As  he  entered  the  canton 
Schwyz  in  which  Einsiedeln  is  located,  it  is  probable 
that  he  came  to  Einsiedeln.  But  Hugo  von  Lan- 
denburg,  the  Bishop  of  Constance,  and  John  Faber, 
or  Fabri,  his  vicar-general,  were  both  much  opposed 
to  the  traffic  in  indulgences  and  incited  Zwingli  to 
preach  against  it,  and  Samson  left  the  canton.  An 
indulgence,  properly  speaking,  is  a  remission  of  the 
temporal  consequences  of  sins.  The  saints  are  in 
Catholic  theology  supposed  to  have  performed  good 
works  far  in  excess  of  those  needed  for  their  sal- 
vation. These  good  works  constitute  a  treasury 
upon  which  the  Pope  can  draw  at  will,  and  such 
drafts  are  honoured  in  the  shape  of  lessening  or  al- 
together obliterating  the  punishment  in  purgatory. 
But  though  it  was  entirely  contrary  to  their  alleged 
instructions,  and  certainly  to  the  official  teaching, 
it  is  the  fact  that  the  sellers  of  indulgence  often  so 
represented  the  matter  that  the  purchasers  of  the 
article  supposed  that  they  were  buying  exemption 
from  the  punishment  of  those  sins  which  the  Church 
theology  declared  were  damning,  and  also  buying 
permission  to  commit  sins!  The  sale  of  indulgences 
was    immensely    increased    by  this    misconception, 


I5I8J  At  Einsiedeln  lo^ 

and  the  Pope  for  whose  benefit  ostensibly  the  traffic 
was  carried  on  profited  thereby.  To  Zwingli  the 
business  appeared  amusing.  He  had  no  apprecia- 
tion apparently  of  the  enormity  of  the  conduct  of 
the  Pope  in  selling  what  he  should  have  rejoiced  to 
give  his  subjects  —  viz.,  the  lessening  or  extinction 
of  purgatorial  pains  in  themselves  and  others.  In 
writing  Beatus  Rhenanus  he  gave  a  laughable  de- 
scription of  Samson  and  showed  how  he  used  all  the 
arts  of  the  auctioneer  in  the  disposal  of  his  wares.' 


'  This  letter  has  been  lost.  Our  knowledge  of  it  and  its  contents 
comes  from  Rhenanus,  who,  in  his  reply,  dated  Basel,  December  6, 
15 18  (vii.,  57  sq.),  strikes  a  deeper  note,  shows  a  more  earnest  spirit, 
and  bears  welcome  testimony  to  the  quality  of  Zwingli's  preaching. 
He  thus  speaks  :  "I  have  laughed  a  great  deal  at  the  peddler  of  in- 
dulgences [Samson],  whom  you  depicted  so  vividly  in  your  letter. 
They  give  letters  to  the  leaders  in  a  war  for  those  who  shall  perish 
in  battle.  How  petty  and  unworthy  of  the  representatives  of  the 
Pope  these  things  are !  What  will  they  not  think  up  so  that  Italy 
may  get  our  money  !  And  yet  I  do  not  consider  this  is  a  laughing 
matter,  but  rather  one  for  tears.  For  nothing  grieves  me  more  than 
to  see  a  Christian  people  laden  with  ceremonies  that  do  not  reach 
the  heart  of  the  matter  or  that  are  rather  empty  nothings.  And  I 
see  no  cause  for  it  except  that  the  priests,  deceived  by  those  mule- 
driving  sophistical  theologians,  teach  heathen  and  Jewish  doctrines. 
I  am  now  speaking  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  priesthood.  For  it 
does  not  escape  me  that  you  and  those  like  you  bring  forth  to  the 
people  the  pure  philosophy  of  Christ,  straight  from  the  fountain, 
uncorrupted  by  interpretation  of  Scotist  [follower  of  Duns  Scotus, 
1260-1308]  or  Gabrielist  [follower  of  Gabriel  Biel,  1425-1495],  but 
expounded  by  Augustine,  Ambrose,  Cyprian,  Jerome,  faithfully  and 
correctly.  But  those  people  standing  in  a  position  where  whatever 
is  said  the  people  at  large  think  is  true,  bleat  out  nonsense  about  the 
power  of  the  Pope,  remission,  purgatory,  counterfeit  miracles  by  the 
saints,  restitution  contracts,  vows,  pains  of  the  damned,  Antichrist. 
But  you  in  preaching  to  your  congregation  show  the  whole  doctrine 


io8  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1516- 

Zwingli  in  1523  thus  describes  his  preaching  at 
Einsiedeln : 

"  I  began  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  in  the  year 
15 16  before  anyone  in  ray  locality  had  so  much  as  heard 
the  name  of  Luther;  for  I  never  left  the  pulpit  without 
taking  the  words  of  the  gospel  as  used  in  the  mass  serv- 
ice of  the  day  and  expounding  them  by  means  of  the 
Scriptures;  although  at  first  I  relied  much  upon  the 
Fathers  as  expositors  and  explainers."  * 


of  Christ  briefly  displayed  as  in  a  picture ;  how  Christ  was  sent 
down  to  the  earth  by  God  to  teach  us  the  will  of  the  Father,  to  show 
us  that  this  world,  i.  e.,  riches,  honour,  authority,  pleasures,  and  all 
that  kind  of  thing,  are  to  be  contemned  so  that  the  heavenly  country 
can  be  sought  with  the  whole  heart,  to  teach  us  peace  and  concord 
and  the  attractive  community  of  all  possession  (for  Christianity  is 
nothing  else) — even  as  Plato  dreamed  of  in  his  Republic,  for  he  is  to 
be  numbered  among  the  great  prophets ;  to  take  away  from  us  fool- 
ish affections  of  earthly  affairs  concerning  country,  parents,  relatives, 
health,  and  other  possessions,  to  declare  that  poverty  and  disadvant- 
ages in  this  life  are  not  real  evils."  Very  likely  this  letter  is  not  to 
be  taken  as  a  full  description  either  of  monastic  preaching  or  of 
Zwingli's.  But  it  presents  doubtless  the  contrast  between  them  ; 
how  the  monks  discoursed  on  Church  teaching  in  reliance  upon  the 
scholastics  where  Zwingli  relied  upon  the  great  Fathers,  handled 
themes  of  vital  importance,  and  based  his  doctrine  upon  the  Bible 
itself.  Another  witness  to  the  biblical  quality  of  his  preaching  at 
that  time  is  Caspar  Hedio,  subsequently  the  Reformer  of  Strassburg, 
who  wrote  from  Basel  to  Zwingli  on  November  6,  1519  (vii.,  89),  in 
the  following  very  complimentary  terms  respecting  a  sermon  he  heard 
him  preach  at  Einsiedeln  at  Pentecost,  apparently  of  that  year,  15 19, 
from  Luke,  v.,  17-26,  the  story  of  the  paralytic:  "I  was  greatly 
charmed  by  an  address  of  yours,  so  elegant,  learned,  and  weighty, 
fluent,  discerning,  and  evangelical,  such  a  one  as  plainly  recalled  the 
energy  of  the  old  theologians.  .  .  .  That  address,  I  say,  so 
inflamed  me  that  I  began  at  once  to  feel  a  deep  affection  for  Zwingli, 
to  respect  and  admire  him."  '  I.,  253. 


i5i8]  At  Einsiedeln  109 

This  sort  of  preaching  was  so  great  a  contrast  to 
that  ordinarily  heard,  that  it  must  have  occasioned 
remark.  That  it  was  popular  was  shown  in  his  sub- 
sequent call  to  Zurich.  Yet  the  sticklers  for  or- 
thodoxy must  have  scented  heresy  in  his  implied 
contempt  or  low  valuation  of  the  scholastic  and 
monastic  topics  for  sermons,  and  perhaps  it  was  his 
protection  that  he  had  so  warm  a  friend  in  the  ad- 
ministrator, and  that  the  abbot  was  such  a  perfect 
indifferentist  in  matters  of  religious  controversy.' 
The  papal  chaplain  of  the  monastery,  Zink,'  was 
also  a  friend  of  the  New  Learning,  and  defended 
Zwingli's  practices. 

Einsiedeln  was  frequently  visited  by  ecclesiastical 
dignitaries,  and  as  they  were  off  duty  they  were  the 
more  inclined  to  discuss  matters  informally  and 
candidly.  Zwingli  thus  alludes  in  1525  to  his  inter- 
course with  some  of  them  : 

"  I  will  call  upon  the  witness  of  living  persons.  Be- 
fore the  dissension  [/.  .?.,  the  Reformation]  arose  I  have 
spoken  with  prominent  cardinals,  bishops,  and  prelates, 
and  discussed  with  them  errors  in  doctrine  and  warned 
them  that  they  must  proceed  to  do  away  with  abuses  if 
they  would  not  themselves  perish  in  the  great  upheaval. 
To  the  Lord  Cardinal  of  Sitten  [Matthew  Schinner]  I 
testified  eight  years  ago  [/.  ^.,  in  15 17]  at  Einsiedeln, 
and  afterward  at  Zurich  often,  and  in  the  clearest  lan- 
guage, that  the  papacy  had  a  false  foundation,  and  sup- 
ported the  same  from  Scripture."  * 

•  See  the  story  in  Bullinger,  i. ,  9, 

•  Also  spelled  Zinck,  Zingg. 
»II..  I.  7. 


no  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1516- 

Bullinger  also  tells  how  Zwingli  at  Einsiedeln  ex- 
horted Hugo,  Bishop  of  Constance,  to  give  free 
course  to  the  preaching  of  the  pure  and  clear  word 
of  God  and  to  remove  gross  abuses  and  supersti- 
tions, and  that  he  made  similar  remarks  to  Cardinal 
Schinner,  the  papal  Legate  in  Switzerland.'  Of 
course,  he  knew  that  neither  of  these  persons  had 
any  authority  to  do  anything  of  the  kind.^  Of  more 
immediate  advantage  to  him  was  the  instruction  in 
Greek  which  he  received  from  the  famous  Italian 
scholar,  Paul  Bombasius,  the  secretary  of  Cardinal 
Schinner.' 

However  much  Zwingli  might  speak  of  the  abuses 
of  the  Church,  the  idea  of  separating  from  her  on 
account  of  them  never  entered  his  head.  In  fact 
in  so  talking  he  was  like  many  others  who  had  been 
talking  and  talking  for  nigh  a  hundred  years.  Little 
did  Rome  care  for  such  talk  And  Rome  considered 
that  so  long  as  this  young  Swiss  preacher  took  the 
papal  pension,  however  reluctantly,  he  would  not 
do  much  against  her.     Still,  as  he  was  plainly  a  man 


'  BulHnger,  i.,  lo. 

"^  This  fact  did  not  prevent  him  subsequently  from  addressing  a 
formal  petition  to  the  Bishop  on  the  same  subjects.     See  p.  i66. 

^  There  is  a  letter  from  Bombasius  to  Zwingli,  dated  March  2, 
1518  (vii.,  35),  which  is  evidence  of  acquaintance  between  them.  On 
April  27,  1518  (vii.,  42),  Valentine  Tschudi,  writing  from  Paris,  con- 
gratulates Zwingli  upon  securing  so  learned  and  skilful  a  teacher  in 
Greek.  But  he  does  not  give  his  name.  It  is,  however,  a  common 
conjecture  that  he  meant  Bombasius,  and  as  Zwingli  was  by  this 
time  quite  well  advanced  in  Greek  it  is  not  unlikely  that  Bombasius 
and  he  read  some  Greek  together,  and  in  this  sense  Bombasius  might 
be  said  to  be  his  teacher. 


EINSIEDELN,   FROM  A  CONTEMPORARY  DRAWING. 


i5i8]  At  Einsiedeln  tit 

worth  getting  more  closely  bound  to  the  papal  chair, 
a  rising  man  and  already  a  power,  the  papal  Nuncio, 
Antony  Pucci,  writing  from  Zurich  on  September  i, 
15 18,  announced  to  him  that  the  Pope,  in  recogni- 
tion of  his  ability  and  learning,  had  made  him  an 
acolyte  chaplain,  which  was  to  be  sure  not  a  very 
exalted  honour,  and  at  the  same  time  had  granted 
his  request  to  be  released  from  certain  ecclesiastical 
censures."    What  answer  Zwingli  made  to  this  letter 

'  The  letter  is  as  follows  : 

^^Appointment  of  Master  Huldreich  Zivingli  as  Papal  Acolyte 
Chaplain,  September  i,  JJ18. 

"Antonio  Pucci,  Subdean  of  the  church  of  Florence,  Priest  of  the 
Apostolic  Chamber,  Delegate  with  power  of  Legate  de  latere  to  the 
Swiss  of  the  ancient  Great  League  of  Upper  Germany,  to  our  Hul- 
dreich Zwingli,  beloved  in  Christ,  Rector  of  the  parish  church  of  the 
village  of  Glarus  in  the  diocese  of  Constance,  Acolyte  Chaplain  of 
our  Most  Holy  Lord,  the  Pope,  and  the  Apostolic  See,  eternal  salva- 
tion in  the  Lord.  Shining  in  virtues  and  merits,  and  commended  by 
our  observation  and  the  reports  of  your  laudable  reputation,  you 
have  won  such  favour  in  the  sight  of  our  Lord,  the  Pope,  and  the 
Apostolic  See  that,  watching  with  fatherly  interest  over  your  charac- 
ter as  a  man  of  letters,  we  are  graciously  pleased  to  raise  you  to  a 
title  of  especial  honour,  according  to  the  powers  granted  to  us  by 
our  aforesaid  Lord,  the  Pope.  That,  therefore,  you  may  efTectively 
see  to  what  the  affectionate  regard  of  our  heart  prompts  us,  we 
desire,  in  view  of  your  aforesaid  merits  as  a  Master  of  Arts,  to 
bestow  praise  upon  you  and  adorn  you  with  a  title  and  prerogative 
of  special  honour,  and,  in  case  you  are  involved  in  any  way  in  any 
ecclesiastical  judgments,  censures,  or  penalties,  of  excommunication, 
suspension,  interdict,  or  of  other  nature,  imposed  by  law  or  by  man 
upon  any  occasion  or  for  any  cause,  we  absolve  you  from  these,  so 
far  at  least  as  these  presents  are  concerned,  and  we  decree  you  ab- 
solved, and,  inclined  thereto  by  your  petition  to  that  effect,  and  in 
virtue  of  the  apostolic  authority  which  we  enjoy,  granted  to  us  by 
our  Most  Holy  Father  and  Lord  in  Christ,  Leo  X.,  by  divine  provi- 
dence Pope,  we  hereby  receive  you  as  Acolyte  Chaplain  of  our  Lord, 


112  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1516- 

is  unknown.  But  he  must  have  been  glad  to  be  re- 
lieved of  the  censures,  whatever  they  were. 

the  Pope,  and  the  Apostolic  See,  and  graciously  enroll  you  in  the 
number  and  society  of  the  other  Acolyte  Chaplains  of  our  Lord, 
the  Pope,  and  of  this  See,  granting  you  all  the  same  the  right  to  use, 
hold,  and  enjoy  fully  and  freely  each  and  every  privilege,  preroga- 
tive, honour,  exemption,  favour,  freedom,  immunity,  and  indulg- 
ence which  other  Acolyte  Chaplains  of  our  Lord,  the  Pope,  and  of 
this  See,  use,  hold,  and  enjoy,  or  shall  in  any  way  have  the  right  to 
use,  hold,  and  enjoy  hereafter,  apostolic  enactments  and  ordinances 
and  all  other  obstacles  whatever  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
So  press  on,  therefore,  from  good  to  better  in  zeal  for  virtue,  that  in 
the  sight  of  our  Lord,  the  Pope,  and  in  our  sight,  you  shall  ever 
establish  yourself  as  worthier  of  greater  rewards,  and  that  our  Lord, 
the  Pope,  himself,  and  ourselves  may  rightly  be  the  more  urgently 
impelled  to  showing  you  richer  favour  and  honour.  In  witness 
whereof  we  have  ordered  and  caused  these  presents  to  be  made  and 
our  seal  to  be  attached  in  token  of  confirmation.  Given  at  Zurich 
in  the  diocese  of  Constance  the  first  day  of  September  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord's  incarnation,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  eighteen,  and 
of  the  pontificate  of  our  aforesaid  Lord,  the  Pope,  the  sixth. 

*'  Free  by  order  of  the  Reverend  Lord  Delegate. 

"  G.  VON  Falk  {?).     M.  Bretini.     M.  Bretini,  Acting  Secretary. 

"Jo.   NUCHELEN." 

A  seal  encased  in  metal  depends  from  the  document,  arms  and  a 
head,  encircled  by  the  words:  " -)-  Antoni  Pucci  Sedis  Aplice 
Proton  "  ("  Antonio  Pucci,  Protonotary  of  the  Apostolic  See  "). 

(On  the  back  in  another  hand):  "Appointment  as  Acolyte  for 
Master  Huldreich  Zwingli." 

On  August  24,  1 518,  Pucci  sent  him  the  letter  announcing  his  ap- 
pointment (vii.,  48,  49),  but  the  above  is  the  formal  appointment, 
translated  from  Egli,  Analecta  Reformatoria,  i,  19-21. 

On  March  2,  1518,  or  months  before  Pucci's  letter,  Bombasius  in 
the  letter  already  alluded  to  (vii.,  35)  says:  "  Concerning  your  acolyte 
chaplaincy  I  will  do  what  you  have  requested  in  writing  as  soon  as 
our  abbreviator  has  leisure."  The  abbreviator  is  the  papal  secretary 
who  would  have  the  making  out  of  appointments.  So  this  remark 
of  Bombasius  looks  very  much  like  an  allusion  to  Zwingli's  appli- 
cation for  the  position  of  acolyte  chaplain. 


1518]  At  Einsiedeln  113 

Zvvingli  had  never  looked  upon  his  position  at 
Einsiedehi  as  more  than  temporary.  And  if  the 
times  had  been  propitious  he  would  gladly  have  re- 
turned to  Glarus,  as  has  been  already  said.  For 
one  thing  his  salary  was  much  smaller  at  Einsiedeln 
than  it  had  been  at  Glarus.  In  15 17  he  learned 
that  a  call  would  be  extended  to  him  from  Winter- 
thur,  an  important  town  sixteen  miles  north-east 
from  Zurich.  Desiring  to  accept  it,  he  consulted 
his  "  superiors  "  at  Glarus,  as  he  was  still  their 
pastor.  But  for  some  reason  they  refused  to  relieve 
him.  So  he  wrote  to  Winterthur  to  prevent  them 
from  calling  him,  but  on  the  very  day  he  wrote,  the 
call  from  them  was  sent  and  the  two  letters  must 
have  crossed.' 

The  Zwingli  correspondence  of  the  period  calls 
for  no  special  remark  except  as  it  relates  to  the  call 
to  Zurich.     It  has  the  same  general  characteristics 


'  This  fact  would  not  be  found  out  if  the  dates  given  the  letters 
were  not  translated  into  the  ordinary  figures.  Many,  perhaps  most 
of  the  letters  in  the  Zwingli  correspondence  are  dated  either  in  class- 
ical fashion  by  ides,  kalends,  and  the  like,  or  by  reference  to  saints' 
days.  Thus  Zwingli's  letter  in  question  is  dated  "  Friday  after  SS. 
Simon  and  Jude"(vii.,  30,  or  32),  and  the  Winterthur  letter  is  dated 
"  Friday  before  All  Saints'  day  "  (vii.,  32).  But  by  reference  to  the 
Roman  Church  calendar  it  is  discovered  that  the  first  date  is  October 
30th,  and  as  All  Saints'  Day  is  on  November  ist,  which  that  year 
came  on  Sunday,  the  Friday  before  was  October  30th  ;  so  both  letters 
were  written  on  the  same  day.  The  determination  of  the  day  of  the 
week  upon  which  any  event  occurred,  of  which  we  know  its  year, 
month,  and  day,  can  be  learned  without  a  particle  of  trouble  by  means 
of  the  very  ingenious  "  Perfect  Calendar  "  prepared  by  Henry  Fitch, 
and  published  by  the  Funk  &  Wagnalls  Company,  New  York.  Some- 
times this  information  is  important,  and  it  is  always  interesting. 


114  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1516- 

as  that  of  the  former  period.  It  is  that  of  a  Human- 
ist with  broad  sympathies.  Zwingli  was  probably 
pretty  closely  held  at  Einsiedeln,  yet  it  appears  that 
he  made  a  visit  to  Baden,  fourteen  miles  north  of 
Zurich,  during  15 17.' 

Excursus  on  Zzvingli  s  Papal  Pension. 

Bullinger  says  (i.,  8)  that  the  Pope  (Julius  II.)  gave  Zwingli  a  pen- 
sion, "  for  the  purchase  of  books."  But  this  was  a  sort  of  euphemism, 
and  was  understood  on  both  sides  as  binding  him  to  some  extent  to 
the  papal  chair,  for  the  Pope  was  not  in  the  habit  of  giving  pensions 
to  men  like  Zwingli  out  of  charity  or  admiration.  Yet  since  Zwingli 
was  then  a  loyal  papalist  he  could  with  perfect  propriety  and  in  all 
good  conscience  accept  it.  The  year  of  its  first  bestowal  was  prob- 
ably 1512-13.  But  when  he  came  out  as  a  severe  critic  of  the  papacy, 
as  he  did  in  1517,  then  his  acceptance  was  not  proper,  as  he  himself 
allows  in  the  passages  to  be  quoted.  But  he  continued  to  take  the 
papal  pension  till  1520,  when  it  had  become  a  public  scandal  and 
source  of  trouble,  as  his  enemies  were  constantly  throwing  it  in  his 
teeth.  Why  he  took  it  was  his  poverty,  which  has  been  often  pleaded 
in  excuse  for  similar  action.  Chronologically,  the  first  bit  of  writing 
which  can  be  quoted  in  which  he  alludes  to  his  fault  in  continuing  to 
receive  the  pension  is  the  dedication  to  the  sermon  on  the  Virgin 
Mary,  which  he  published  in  1522.  He  says  :  "  My  connection 
with  the  Pope  of  Rome  is  now  a  thing  of  several  years  back.  At  the 
time  it  began  it  seemed  to  me  a  proper  thing  to  take  his  money  and 
to  defend  his  opinions,  but  when  I  realised  my  sin  I  parted  company 
with  him  entirely"  (i.,  86).  Next  and  more  explicit  was  his  confes- 
sion in  the  "  Exposition  of  the  Articles"  of  the  Zurich  Disputation  of 
January,  1523:  "I  had  for  three  years  previous  [to  1520]  been 
preaching  the  Gospel  with  earnestness'^  ;  on  which  account  I  received 


'  See  vii. ,  29.  On  the  portion  of  Zwingli's  life  prior  to  his  going 
to  Zurich  there  is  a  Bachelor  of  Theology  thesis  by  Ernest  Christen, 
Zwingli  avant  la  R^ forme  de  Zurich  (Geneva,  1899),  which  is  in- 
tended to  be  the  first  part  of  a  complete  life  of  Zwingli.  It  has 
been  of  service  in  these  pages. 

'  Elsewhere  he  claims  to  have  preached  the  Gospel  since  his  Ein- 
siedeln days(i.,  253  ;  see  above,  pp.  36,  37). 


1518]  At  Einsiedeln  115 

from  the  papal  cardinals,  bishops,  and  legates,  with  whom  the  city 
has  abounded,  many  friendly  and  earnest  counsels,  with  threats,  or 
with  promises  of  greater  gifts  and  of  benefices.  These,  however, 
have  had  no  effect  upon  me.  On  the  other  hand,  in  1517  I  declined 
to  receive  the  pension  of  fifty  gulden,  which  they  gave  me  yearly 
(yes,  they  wanted  to  make  it  one  hundred  gulden,  but  I  would  not 
hear  to  it),  but  they  would  not  stop  it  until  in  1520  I  renounced 
it  in  writing.  (I  confess  here  my  sin  before  God  and  all  the  world, 
that  before  15 16  I  hung  mightily  upon  the  Pope  and  considered  it 
becoming  in  me  to  receive  money  from  the  papal  treasury.  But 
when  the  Roman  representatives  warned  me  not  to  preach  anything 
against  the  Pope,  I  told  them  in  express  and  clear  words  that  they 
had  better  not  believe  that  I  would  on  account  of  their  money  sup- 
press a  syllable  of  the  truth.)  After  I  had  renounced  the  pension 
they  saw  that  I  would  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  them,  so  they 
procured  and  betrayed  (to  the  Senate),  through  a  spiritual  father,  a 
Dominican  monk,  the  manuscript  containing  in  one  letter  my  renun- 
ciation and  receipt  of  payment,  with  a  view  of  driving  me  out  of 
Zurich.  But  the  scheme  failed,  because  the  Honourable  Senate 
knew  well  that  I  had  not  exalted  the  Pope  in  my  discourses  ;  so  that 
the  money  had  not  affected  anything  in  that  direction  ;  also  that  I  in 
no  way  advanced  their  plans  and  had  twice  declined  their  pension  ; 
also  that  no  one  could  from  the  past  teaching  accuse  me  of  breaking 
my  oath  or  impairing  my  honour.  On  these  grounds  the  Senate  de- 
clared me  innocent  "  (i.,  354).  Confirmation  of  these  statements  of 
Zwingli  is  given  in  this  letter  of  Francis  Zink,  the  papal  chaplain  at 
Einsiedeln  :  "  A  little  time  ago  when  I  heard  that  you  [the  Senate  of 
Zurich,  to  which  body  he  is  writing]  were  about  to  take  up  the  matter 
of  the  people's  priest,  Huldreich  Zwingli,  I  met  him  twice  in  order 
to  give  my  testimony.  But  now  that  I  am  sick  and  cannot  come  in 
person  before  your  honourable  body,  I  write  to  tell  exactly  all  about 
it.  .  .  .  Huldreich  Zwingli  received  for  some  years,  while  at 
Glarus,  at  Einsiedeln,  and  finally  at  Zurich,  a  yearly  allowance  from 
the  Pope  ;  but  the  sole  reason  why  he  has  done  so  is  his  poverty  and 
need,  especially  while  with  you  at  Zurich.  And  assuredly  he  would 
have  lacked  provision  for  his  family  if  this  support  had  been  taken 
from  him.  .  .  .  Nevertheless,  this  was  so  great  a  cross  to  him 
that  he  desired  to  resign  his  position  with  you,  having  it  in  mind  to 
come  back  to  Einsiedeln.  .  .  .  Moreover,  it  is  perfectly  evident 
that  he  has  never  been  moved  a  finger's  breadth  from  the  Gospel  by 


ii6  Huldreich  Zwingli        [1516-1518] 

the  favour  of  the  Pope,  emperor,  or  noble,  but  always  proclaims  the 
truth  and  preaches  it  faithfully  among  the  people.  For  if  he  had 
permitted  himself  to  be  turned  aside  to  serve  the  interests  of  the 
papacy  in  greater  measure  he  might  have  received  one  hundred  florins 
a  year,  not  to  speak  of  benefices  at  Basel  or  Chur,  but  none  of  these 
enticed  him.  I  was  present  when  the  Legate  Pucci  was  frankly  told 
by  him  that  he  would  not  for  money  advance  the  papal  interests,  but 
would  preach  and  teach  the  truth  to  the  people  in  the  way  which 
seemed  best  to  him.  Under  the  circumstances  he  left  it  entirely  to 
the  Legate  whether  he  should  grant  the  pension  or  not.  Hearing 
this  the  Legate  smoothed  him  down,  saying  that  even  if  he  [ZwingliJ 
was  not  inclined  to  befriend  the  Pope,  still  he  [the  Legate]  would 
befriend  him  :  for  he  had  not  made  the  offer  to  turn  him  aside  from 
his  purpose  [to  preach  the  truth],  but  had  had  in  view  his  need  and 
how  he  might  live  in  greater  comfort  and  purchase  books,  etc.  .  .  . 
I  wished,  therefore,  to  make  this  clear  to  you,  not  that  I  might 
absolve  Master  Huldreich  Zwingli  as  if  he  had  not  received  subsi- 
dies, but  that  you  might  know  how  he  received  them,  and  at  what 
instance  it  was  brought  about,  that  you  might  see  it  from  the  right 
standpoint."  (This  letter  of  Zink's  is  quoted  in  the  note  to  vii.,  179.) 
Zwingli  was  brought  before  the  Senate  to  explain  his  inconsistency 
in  taking  the  Pope's  money  while  attacking  him,  but  this  letter  of 
Zink's  cleared  him  and  he  was  not  forced  to  resign.  As  Zwingli  had 
no  adequate  support  from  his  people's  priest's  office  he  felt  the  loss 
of  the  pension,  but  in  the  next  year,  1521,  he  was  made  a  canon  in 
the  cathedral  and  that  made  up  for  the  lack  of  it  and  more  (See 
vii.,  182  j^,,  and  p.  151). 


EINSIEDELN,  CHAPEL  OF  THE  VIRGIN  AS  IN  ZWINQLI'S  DAY. 


CHAPTER   IV 

OPENING   YEAR   IN   ZURICH      ' 
1519 

ON  Thursday,  October  28,  15 18,  Oswald  My- 
conius,  then  teaching  the  classics  at  Zurich, 
wrote  Zwingli  that  the  place  of  people's  priest  at 
the  Great  Minster  of  Zurich  was  vacant,  and  that 
he  ardently  longed  to  see  Zwingli  in  it.  He  takes 
it  that  Zwingli  knows  all  about  the  vacancy,  and 
desires  merely  to  learn  whether  he  would  accept  it 
if  it  were  offered  to  him.'  The  position  was  an  in- 
fluential but  poorly  paid  one.  To  it  was  attached 
the  duty  of  preaching  in  the  cathedral.  There  were 
in  Zurich  at  this  time  three  parishes,  each  with  a 
people's  priest';  that  of  the  Gross  Miinster  (Great 
Minster)  was  the  most  important,  as  it  took  in  the 
part  of  the  city  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Limmat,  the 
swift  stream  which  empties  into  the  Lake  of  Zurich  ; 
those  of  the  Frau  Miinster  (Minster  of  Our  Lady) 
and  of  St.  Peter  were  both  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Limmat.  Zwingli  was  asked  about  the  first  of 
these.  The  vacancy  had  occurred  in  consequence 
of  promotions  in  the  chapter  of  the  cathedral/  and 

'VII.,  52. 

'  The  three  constituted  according  to  Zwingli  (iii.,  9)  the  board  of 
bishops  in  Zurich.  The  office  at  the  Gross  Miinster  dated  from 
1177  (see  S.  Voegelin,  Das  alte  Zurich,  2d  ed.,  Zurich,  1878,  i., 
260.)  'VII.,  52,  note. 

117 


ii8  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1519 

could  scarcely  have  escaped  Zwingli's  attention,  as 
he  was  looking  about  for  a  desirable  settlement. 
After  a  short  delay  Zwingli  replied  to  Myconius  that 
on  the  next  Wednesday,  which  was  apparently  No- 
vember 17th,  he  would  be  in  Zurich,  and  would 
discuss  the  matter  further.'  He  made  the  visit 
doubtless,  and  consented  to  be  a  candidate.* 

On  December  2d,  Zwingli  wrote  Myconius  again, 
and  showed  that  the  appearance  of  a  Swabian  as  a 
rival  candidate  had  excited  his  jealous  ire.  He  de- 
scribes the  Swabian  in  abusive  and  contemptuous 
language.  Yet  that  he  counted  on  getting  the  posi- 
tion is  revealed  by  his  remark  that  he  was  determ- 
ined to  begin  his  preaching  in  the  cathedral  with  an 
exposition  of  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  as  a  whole, — 
"  a  book,"  he  says,  "  which  is  unknown  to  the  Ger- 
mans,"— in  distinction  to  speaking  upon  those  por- 
tions of  it  which  might  be  in  the  gospel  for  the  day. 
He  sends  greetings  to  prominent'  people,  among 
them  Cardinal  Sander,  dean  of  Warsaw,  and  exhorts 
Myconius  to  continue  in  his  efforts  on  his  behalf.^ 
On  December  3d,  Myconius  writes  him  that  his 
friends  in  Zurich  were  many,  but  that  he  was  ad- 


'  The  letter  (vii.,  52),  is  dated  "  Divcie  Virginis"  which  was  appar- 
ently the  Feast  of  the  Patronage  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  which 
is  celebrated  on  the  second  Sunday  in  November,  which  came  that 
year  on  the  14th,  so  Wednesday  following  would  be  the  17th. 

^  Zwingli's  letter  to  Winterthur  (vii.,  29)  shows  that  congregations 
in  Catholic  Switzerland  in  the  sixteenth  century  desiring  pastors 
heard  candidates,  just  as  American  congregations  commonly  do 
to-day  !  But  there  is  no  record  that  he  ever  preached  as  a  candidate 
at  Zurich. 

^VII..  53. 


1519]  Opening  Year  in  Zurich  119 

versely  criticised  because  he  was  so  fond  of  music,' 
and  because  he  was  so  given  to  worldly  pleasures. 
Myconius  had  not  found  it  difificult  to  silence  these 
objections.  But  another  was  more  serious,  viz.,  the 
story  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  a  foul  wrong  to  the 
daughter  of  a  prominent  citizen  of  Einsiedeln,  and 
Myconius  implores  Zwingli  to  give  the  lying  tale 
prompt  and  emphatic  denial.'  Whether  he  wrote  to 
Myconius  on  the  subject  is  unknown,  but  he  did  write 
to  Canon  Utinger,  who  was  apparently  the  leading 
man  of  the  advocates  of  Zwingli  in  the  cathedral 
chapter,  and  with  this  chapter  the  choice  rested. 
The  letter '  in  its  tone  shows  that  Zwingli  was  at 
the  time  far  from  being  a  saint,  that  he  was  lead- 
ing an  unchaste  life  without  any  appreciation  of  its 
guilt,  and  that  he  was  only  anxious  that  his  chances 
of  election  should  not  be  injured  by  the  report.  As 
for  the  report  itself,  he  exposes  its  entire  falsity. 
His  disclaimer  was  at  once  accepted  as  satisfactory, 
and  when  the  election  was  held,  on  Saturday,  De- 
cember I  ith,  he  was  the  choice  of  the  chapter  by  a 
vote  of  17  to  7.* 

On  Sunday,   December  19th,  at  Glarus,  he  laid 
down  his  office  as  pastor  there,  and  at  the  same  time 


'Zwingli  was  afterwards  called  in  Roman  Catholic  circles  "the 
guitar  player  and  evangelist  upon  the  flute  " — so  Bullinger  reports 
(i.,  31). 

'VII..  54. 

^VII.,  54-57,  dated  December  4,  1518. 

*  The  date  of  the  election  is  known  from  Cardinal  Sander's  letter, 
dated  December  7th  (vii.,  5S),  which  informs  him  that  the  canons  who 
favoured  him  w'ere  in  the  majority  both  in  numbers  and  influence, 
and  that  the  election  would  be  held  on  the  nth. 


I20  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1519 

nominated  as  his  successor  his  former  pupil,  Valen- 
tine Tschudi.'  His  place  at  Einsiedeln  was  given 
to  another  friend,  on  his  recommendation  —  Leo 
Jud,  to  whom  he  wrote  thus  concerning  the  charge: 
"  The  people  over  whom  you  are  to  be  placed  are 
single-minded  and  willingly  hear  Christ  preached 
unto  them,  even  by  me  as  forerunner;  the  provision 
is  ample,  and  the  administrator  [Diebold  von  Ger- 
oldseck]  is  a  man  of  fair  learning,  himself  most  eager 
for  It,  and,  above  all,  a  lover  of  the  learned."  ' 

The  chief  ruler  and  the  council  of  the  canton  of 
Schwyz,  in  which  Einsiedeln  is  located,  politely 
expressed  regret  at  his  leaving  the  canton,  but 
congratulated  him  upon  his  promotion,  and  then 
improved  the  opportunity  to  solicit  his  influence  for 
a  proteg^  of  theirs!^  All  the  preliminaries  being 
arranged,  Zwingli  came  to  Zurich  upon  St.  John  the 
Evangelist's  day,  which  was  that  year  on  Monday, 
December  27th,  and  took  up  his  temporary  abode 
at  the  Hermit  Hotel,  which  was  at  the  southern  an- 
gle of  the  city  wall.     He  was  well  and  honourably 


'  "  In  the  year  15 18,  on  Sunday  before  St.  Thomas's  day  [which 
that  year  came  on  Tuesday,  December  2ist],  Master  Huldreich 
Zwingli  appeared  in  person  before  the  authorities  of  the  parish  [of 
Glarus]  and  returned  to  them  his  benefice  and  asked  them  collectively 
to  call  Valentine  Tschudi.  Then  out  of  honour  and  gratitude  to 
[Zwingli]  they  called  Valentine  Tschudi "  (J.  H.  Tschudi's  "Chron- 
icle of  Glarus,"  quoted  in  note  to  vii.,  63  ;  cf.  65).  But  Tschudi  did 
not  assume  the  position  until  October  12,  1522  (vii.,  211,  note). 
Consequently  the  very  uncomplimentary  language  in  which  Zwingli's 
successor  at  Glarus  is  described  (vii.,  l6l  sqq.,  see  p,  89)  does  not 
apply  to  Tschudi. 

«  VII.,  59  (December  17,  1518). 

*VII.,  60  (December  21,  1518). 


IIIIUBWIIIIiWilll  " 
ZWINQLI'S  COMMUNION   CUP  AT  GLARUS. 


^  B  R  A  K  y* 

^  OF  THE 


1519]         Opening  Year  in  Zurich  121 

received,  although  there  were  many  in  Zurich  not 
altogether  favourable  to  him.'  The  news  of  his 
election  naturally  occasioned  many  congratulations 
from  his  friends  and  correspondents." 

One  of  the  articles  Zwingli  brought  with  him  from 
Einsiedeln  was  of  his  own  manufacture,  namely,  a 
copy  of  the  Pauline  Epistles,  called  a  "  Paulinus," 
made  from  a  copy  of  the  first  published  Greek  New 
Testament,  that  of  Erasmus,  printed  by  Froben  in 
Basel,  and  published  in  1516.  He  made  the  tran- 
script probably  from  the  copy  purchased  for  the 
library  at  Einsiedeln,  at  his  suggestion.^  On  the 
last  page  of  this  transcript  are  several  lines  in  Greek, 
of  which  the  English  translation  is  this : 

"  These  Epistles  were  written  at  [Einsiedeln]  the 
Hermitage  of  the  Blessed  Mother  of  God,  by  Huldreich 
Zwingli  of  the  Swiss  Toggenburg  in  [the  year]  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  seven  and  ten  after  the  Incarnation  in 
the  month  Skirophorion  [/.  e.,  the  12th  Attic  month,  cor- 
responding to  the  last  part  of  June  and  the  first  part  of 
July]  happily  ended."  * 

On  the  margin  of  this  transcript  he  wrote  annota- 
tions from  Erasmus,  Origen,  Chrysostom,  Ambrose, 

'  BuUinger,  i.,  ii.  So  Christoffel,  Eng.  trans.,  p.  35  ;  cf.  Voege- 
lin,  Das  alte  Zurich,  i.,  560;  cf.  ii.,  387.  It  is  supposed  that  he 
came  down  the  lake  by  boat  and  landed  near  the  spot  just  back  of 
the  Wasserkirche,  where  his  statue  now  stands. 

5  Cf.  vii.,  62,  66,  72. 

^  This  is  at  least  probable,  for  his  friend  Glareanus  in  Basel  acted 
as  his  literary  agent,  and  speaks  (vii.,  17)  of  the  monastery  buying 
the  works  of  Jerome, 

•*  The  Greek  text  and  a  translation  appear  in  Dr.  Schaff's  Church 
History,  vii.,  31. 


122  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1519 

and  Jerome.  His  object  in  making  it  was  to  have 
the  Pauline  Epistles  in  convenient  form  for  carrying 
around  and  for  memorisation,  and  he  actually  com- 
mitted them  to  memory.' 

On  Saturday,  January  i,  15 19,  he  presented  him- 
self to  the  assembled  canons,  and  was  formally  in- 
ducted into  his  office  as  people's  priest.  Much 
stress  was  laid  upon  his  duty  to  preserve  and  in- 
crease the  revenues  of  the  cathedral.^  In  reply 
Zwingli  thanked  them  for  electing  him,  requested 
their  prayers  and  the  prayers  of  the  congregation, 
and  then  announced  that  he  would  begin  the  next 
day  the  continuous  exposition  of  the  Gospel  of 
Matthew,  not  according  to  the  Fathers,  but  accord- 
ing to  the  Scriptures  themselves.  This  announce- 
ment made  a  decided  sensation,  as  it  was  a  marked 
deviation  from  the  practice  of  following  the  peri- 
copes  and  interpreting  them  patristically,  and  awak- 
ened some  adverse  criticism.^ 

Of  stalwart  frame,  above  middle  height,  of  a  ruddy 
countenance  and  pleasing  expression,  he  made  a 
good  impression  upon  spectators,*  and  when  he  spoke 
he  soon  showed  that  he  was  an  orator  who  could 
enchain  the   attention.*     All    Zurich,    and    indeed 

'  So  Myconius,  p.  5.     See  Excursus  I.  at  end  of  chapter. 

*  Schuler,  Zwingli^ s  Bildungsgeschichte,  p.  227  sq. 

'  His  example  was  followed  elsewhere  (vii.,  120,  132). 
■•  Kessler,  Sabbata,  ed.  Goetzinger,  i.,  i6g. 

*  The  idea  that. Zwingli  had  a  weak  voice  came  apparently  from 
this  passage  in  a  letter  from  his  intimate  friend,  Myconius,  dated 
Pentecost,  1520:  "They  continue  to  vomit  forth  against  Zwingli, 
not  indeed  poorly  interpreting  the  truth,  but  wholly  perverting  it. 
Such  news  as  this  perhaps  you  hear  from  Loriti,  for  he  was  present 
.at  the  banquet  where  such  things  were  said  ;    or  from  Grebel,   to 


1519]         Opening  Year  in  Zurich  12;^ 

all  Switzerland,  rang  with  his  praise.  And  not 
only  town  people  but  the  country  folk  also  listened 
to  him  with  delight.  For  the  benefit  of  the  latter 
he  preached  every  Friday,  which  was  market-day, 
in  the  market-place,  and  took  the  Psalms  for  con- 
tinuous exposition.  On  Sundays  in  the  cathedral 
he  expounded  during  his  first  four  years,  and  in  this 
order,  Matthew,  Acts,  I,  Timothy,  Galatians,  II. 
Timothy,  I,  and  II.  Peter,  and  Hebrews.' 

From  his  correspondence  and  allusions  in  his 
works  a  correct  knowledge  may  be  derived  as  to  his 
topics  in  the  opening  years  of  his  residence  in  Zurich. 
He  treated  practical  themes  suggested  naturally  by 
the  Scripture  under  consideration.  Unbelief  and 
superstition,  repentance  and  reformation,  crimes 
and  vices,  luxury  and  extravagance,  were  animad- 
verted on.  He  was  emphatically  the  patriot  in  the 
pulpit,  and  preached  to  the  times — against  pension- 
aries and  mercenaries,  against  the  war  spirit  and  the 

whom  also  they  were  blabbed  out.  At  some  future  time  you  will 
be  said  to  have  a  voice  which  is  so  indistinct  that  what  you  say  is 
scarcely  heard  three  steps  away.  But  I  see  that  this  is  a  lie,  since 
you  are  heard  by  all  Switzerland.  Perhaps  the  wine  of  Zurich  has 
so  opened  the  organ  of  the  throat  by  its  sharpness,  that  now  you 
are  referred  to  as  a  stentor  in  voice  "  (vii.,  135).  If  Zwingli's  voice 
was  originally  weak  he  had  probably  strengthened  it,  but  it  is  much 
more  probable  that  he  had  a  powerful  voice,  and  so  Myconius's  re- 
mark was  a  joke.  At  all  events  a  correspondent  in  1524  speaks  of 
it  as  "sonorous"  (vii.,  328),  and  in  his  little  book  on  Christian 
Education  Zwingli  shows  that  he  understood  elocution  (iv. ,  153, 
Eng.  trans,  by  Reichenbach,  pp.  74,  75).  His  gestures  were  com- 
mended by  the  dean  of  Lucerne,  as  well  as  his  boldness  in  speaking 
(vii.,  226). 

'  Bullinger,  i.,  31.  This  order  is  also  given  by  Zwingli  in  his  ser- 
mon on  the  "  Choice  of  Foods,"  Appendix  to  this  volume. 


124  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1519 

lying  spirit,  against  the  oppression  of  the  poor  and 
the  making  of  widows  and  orphans,  against  the  de- 
struction of  Swiss  freedom  and  Swiss  honour.'  Such 
preaching  had  probably  little  that  was  spiritual  and 
experimental,  because  his  private  life  was  not  of  the 
sort  to  make  spiritual  insight  a  possibility, — it  is  only 
the  pure  in  heart  that  see  God, — but  it  was  lively 
and  helpful,  and  made  a  sensation.  Many  did  not 
like  it,  but  the  majority  rallied  around  the  brave 
and  honest  man." 

Soon  after  his  coming  to  Zurich,  the  indulgence 
seller,  Bernhardin  Samson,  already  mentioned  in 
connection  with  Einsiedeln,^  approached  the  city. 
He  had  been  doing  good  business  elsewhere.  In 
Basel,  Lupulus,  Zwingli's  old  teacher,  had  acted  as 
his  interpreter,  and  there  he  had  reaped  quite  a 
harvest.  It  was  currently  reported  that  he  was 
taking  a  great  deal  of  money  with  him  to  the  Pope. 
But  he  was  coming  to  Zurich  in  no  pleasant  frame 
of  mind.  At  Bremgarten,  ten  miles  west  of  Zurich, 
the  dckan,  Henry  Bullinger,  the  father  of  the  suc- 
cessor of  Zwingli,  had  forbidden  him  the  church  for 
his  business,  and  in  a  rage  he  had  turned  away 
toward  Zurich  to  lay  his  complaint  before  the  Diet 
then  sitting  in  that  city.  He  must  have  been  aware 
that  Zwingli,  who  had  opposed  his  methods  at  Ein- 
siedeln,  was  then  there,  and  that  his  opposition  to 
him  had  the  backing,  if  not  the  incitement,  of  the 


'  See  Excursus  II.  at  end  of  chapter. 

*  Bullinger  has  given  (i.,  12,  13)  a  description  of  his  preaching, 
from  which  the  above  is  in  part  taken. 

8  P.   106. 


I5I9]         Opening  Year  in  Zurich  125 

Bishop  of  Constance,  and  of  his  vicar-general.'  Still, 
Samson  trusted  to  the  Pope's  commission  and  his 
own  arts  to  carry  him  through.  Zwingli  preached 
against  him,  and  had  the  local  hierarchy's  support. 
This  fact  strengthened  the  magistracy,  and  so  when 
Samson  had  come  to  the  very  entrance  to  Zurich, 
and  had  put  up  at  the  Ox  Hotel,"  he  was  requested 
by  the  authorities  to  retire.  This,  however,  he  did 
not  do,  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  appeared  before  the 
Diet  and  demanded  a  hearing.  He  offered  to  be  at 
the  expense  of  a  special  messenger  to  Rome  to  bring 
back  word  as  to  the  authenticity  of  his  commission. 
The  Diet  allowed  him  to  remain  in  the  country  till 
an  answer  could  be  received  from  Rome,  but  com- 
missioned Felix  Grebel,  who  was  going  to  Rome,  to 
act  as  their  representative  and  lay  their  complaints 
on  the  subject  before  the  Pope,  Leo  X. 

In  reply,  the  Pope,  through  his  secretary,  wrote 
on  May  i,  15 19: 

"  Since  His  Holiness  has  lately  learned  from  your  let- 
ter that  Brother  Bernhardin  [Samson]  in  preaching  con- 
cerning indulgences  has  fallen  into  certain  errors  which 
cause  His  Holiness^feat  astonishment,  so  I  am  instructed 
to*  announce  to  you  in  His  name  that  if  the  brother  is 
burdensome  to  you   on  account  of   his  preaching  you 


'  Regius,  under  date  of  March  2,  15 19,  had  just  informed  Zwingli 
that  the  vicar-general's  "  stomach  is  turned  at  certain  pardons  and 
indulgences  that  a  well-known  Minorite  is  peddling  all  over  Switzer- 
land" (vii.,  69), 

"  This  inn  dated  from  1465.  C/.  Voegelin,  Das  alte  Zurich,  i., 
611;  ii.,  397.  It  was  on  the  south  side  of  Sihlstrasse,  near  the 
Rennwegthor,  the  north-west  gate  of  the  city. 


126  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1519 

would  send  him,  if  you  choose,  back  to  Italy.  Still  His 
Holiness  would  prefer  that  you  allow  him  to  stay  the  full 
time  of  his  commission  among  you.  However,  His  Holi- 
ness will  do  everything  for  you  which  advances  your  sal- 
vation. Therefore  I  beg  you,  mighty  lords,  that  if  you 
had  rather  that  Brother  Bernhardin  return  to  Italy  than 
remain  with  you,  send  him  off  without  ceremony.  If  he 
has  erred  in  his  utterances  he  must  give  an  account  of 
himself  to  his  lord  and  be  punished  as  he  deserves."  ' 

At  the  same  time  the  Pope  wrote,  through  his 
secretary,  this  letter  to  Samson: 

"  The  noble  lords  of  the  Thirteen  Swiss  cantons  have 
complained  to  the  Supreme  Pontiff  regarding  your  Pater- 
nity that  in  the  promulgation  of  the  indulgences  you  have 
fallen  into  certain  errors,  which  it  would  take  too  much 
space  to  insert  here.  Whereat  His  Holiness,  being  greatly 
astonished,  ordered  me  verbally  to  admonish  you  in  His 
name  to  adapt  yourself  in  all  things  to  the  wishes  of  the 
aforesaid  lords  of  the  Swiss;  if  they  decree  to  have  you 
remain  till  the  expiration  of  the  time  named  in  your  com- 
mission stay  so  long,  but  if  to  return  offer  no  opposition. 
Nay,  the  will  of  our  Most  Holy  Lord  is  that  what  con- 
duces to  the  spiritual  advantage  of  these  lords,  beloved 
sons  of  His  Holiness,  you  do  as  much  as  possible.  Your 
Paternity  may  show  the  present  letter  to  the  mighty  lords 
of  the  Swiss. 

"  From  the  Convent  Ara  Coeli  [Rome],  May  i,  1519."  * 

The  upshot  of  the  matter  was  that   Samson  left 


'  Hottinger,  Hist.  Eccl.  Nov.  T.,  vii.,  179-180, 
'  Quoted  in  note  to  vii.,  79. 


1519]         Opening  Year  in  Zurich  127 

Switzerland  that  summer  for  good,  and  to  the  gen- 
eral satisfaction,  and  vanishes  from  history.' 

As  his  correspondence  for  the  year  15 19  plainly 
shows,  Zwingli  and  his  friends  were  deeply  interested 
in  the  news  and  rumours,  hopes  and  fears,  plans  and 
plots,  which  agitated  all  Europe  between  January 
12,  1 5 19,  when  the  Emperor  Maximilian  died,  and 
June  28th,  when  the  electors  chose  Charles  V.  as 
his  successor.*  Zwingli  was  opposed  to  the  Swiss 
as  a  nation  taking  any  part  in  the  bargains,  and, 
alas,  bribery,  preliminary  to  the  choice.  He  is 
reported  to  have  said : 

"  Charles  is  a  young  prince,  Spain  is  a  grasping,  rest- 
less, proud,  dissolute  people.  Why  should  the  Germans 
so  inconsiderately  put  such  a  prince  over  them  as  their 
head  ?  It  was  perfectly  evident  such  a  prince  would  rule 
the  Germans  to  their  injury,  and  under  the  cover  of  zeal 
for  the  faith,  abuse  their  confidence  and  rob  them  of  the 
Word  of  God."* 


'  Fabri  or  (Faber),  the  vicar-general,  expresses  himself  as  pleased  at 
the  news  (vii.,  79).  Zwingli,  in  1523  (i.,  97),  blames  himself  and 
other  priests  for  their  deception  in  the  matter  of  indulgences. 

*  E.  g.,  vii.,  65,  70,  71,  73,  76,  and  Supplement,  .17-19. 

'  Bullinger,  i.,  27.  Edward  Fueter,  in  his  doctor  of  philosophy 
inaugural  dissertation,  Der  Anteil  der  Eidgenos  sense  haft  an  der 
Wahl  Karls  V.  (Basel,  1899),  on  pp.  73-75,  questions  the  accuracy 
of  Bullinger's  memory  upon  this  point,  and  appeals  to  Zwingli's 
letters  to  Beatus  Rhenanus  as  given  in  the  Supplement  to  Zwingli's 
works.  The  first  of  the  two  passages  alluded  to  was  written  on 
March  21,  1519,  and  is  quoted  on  next  page.  The  second  is  this : 
Writing  on  March  25th,  he  says  :  "The  Swiss  have  nothing  less  in 
mind  than  that  the  Frenchman  should  assume  imperial  rank,  or  at 
least  they  pretend  to  have  that  purpose.  For  we  are  as  thickly 
covered  over  with  acts  of  wickedness  as  the  leopard  is  with  spots, 


128  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1519 

But  the   Swiss  formally   threw   their   influence   in 
favour  of  Charles,  April  3,  15 19.* 

Zwingli  was  witness  of  the  shifty  policy  of  the 
Pope  (Leo  X.)  during  the  negotiations  which  pre- 
ceded the  imperial  election,''  He  was  also  aware  of 
the  machinations  of  the  same  Pope  against  Luther. 
Writing  to  Rhenanus  on  March  21,  15 19,  he  thus 
expresses  himself  on  both  points,  and  promises  to 
do  his  part  in  opposing  such  designs: 

"  It  pained  me  that  the  man-pleaser,  or,  if  you  prefer, 
the  cuckoo  [/.  <?.,  the  Pope],  is  entertaining  designs  against 
the  rising  theology,  like  the  Frenchman's  [the  French 


and  you  will  not  easily  recognise  who  speaks  from  his  heart  and 
who  from  his  head.  Nevertheless,  a  part  of  the  good  are  thus  far  in 
better  mind"  (Supplement,  i8).  But  these  passages  do  not  contra- 
dict Bullinger's  statement, 

'VII.,  75,  note.  In  1530,  writing  to  Conradson,  Zwingli  says: 
"  What  has  Germany  to  do  with  Rome  ?  Why,  not  even  the  Roman 
priests  receive  him  [the  Emperor]  into  their  city  and  their  homes  ! 
Ponder  this  rhyme, 

"  '  Popedom  and  Ccesardom 

Are  both  of  them  from  Rome.* 

It  was  not  enough  that  by  the  more  than  treasonable  wiles  of  the 
pontiff  the  Christian  world  had  been  circumvented  for  so  many  ages, 
during  which  nevertheless  the  rulers  either  did  not  assent  to  or  at 
least  did  not  favour  [the  thing]  ;  they  had  to  take  unto  themselves 
the  evil  of  elevating  an  unskilled  man,  a  superstitious  Spanish  youth, 
to  the  loftiest  pinnacle.  This  one  is  not  able  to  understand  German 
because  of  his  ignorance,  nor  to  respond  to  their  [the  Germans'] 
demands  [in  their  own  language] "  (Supplement,  p.  39).  That 
Charles  was  not  quite  so  ignorant  of  German  appears  from  his  read- 
ing aloud  at  the  Diet  of  Augsburg  a  speech  in  German. 

'  See  them  impartially  and  fully  set  forth  by  Creighton,  History 
of  the  Papacy,  vi.,  110-117. 


1519]         Opening  Year  in  Zurich  129 

King's]  against  Germany.  .  .  .  May  Christ  so  order 
it  that  I  may  be  able  —  at  least  to  some  extent  —  to  dis- 
close the  shamefulness  of  this  wanton  clothed  in  purple, 
that  by  this  means  Israel  may  see  the  light  which  has 
come  into  the  world,  and  that  Christ  is  dishonoured  by 
her.'" 

A  remarkable  instance  of  the  readiness  of  at  least 
one  Roman  Catholic  prelate  to  protect  Zwingli 
against  printed  attacks  is  given  in  a  letter  from  Basel, 
dated  November  21,  1519,"  from  which  it  appears 
that  a  certain  monk  had  preached  against  Zwingli, 
as  he  had  a  perfect  right  to  do,  and  had  gone  to 
Basel  to  have  his  polemical  sermons  printed.  But 
Zwingli,  through  another  friend,  asked  his  friend, 
Cardinal  Schinner,  who  was  in  Basel,  to  have  an 
embargo  put  upon  the  volume,  and  the  Cardinal  so 
managed  things  that  the  monk  could  not  secure  a 
printer  in  Basel!  Another  friend  of  Zwingli's 
(Capito),  living  in  Strassburg,  undertook  to  exclude 
the  same  monk  from  the  presses  of  that  city.'  But 
this  was  a  dangerous  game  for  the  friends  of  progress 
to  play. 

In  this  year,  15 19,  there  comes  into  the  corre- 
spondence of  Zwingli  a  new  and  auspicious  name — 
Luther.  As  the  best  indication  of  the  way  Luther's 
fame  was  spreading,  and  how  keenly  Zwingli  enjoyed 
his  writings, — of  which  he  had  no  knowledge,  at  all 
events  by  personal  reading,  until  he  had  passed  the 
exposition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  his  sermons  on 


'  Supplement,  p.  i8. 

«VII.,  96. 

2  Zwingli  reported  this  intelligence  to  Myconius,  vii.,  98. 


130  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1519 

Matthew,'  —  the  incidental  remarks  and  allusions 
in  the  correspondence  of  the  year  may  be  cited." 
They  seem  to  contradict  Myconius's  statement  that 
Zwingli  purposely  refrained  from  reading  Luther's 
writings.^  Zwingli  was  jealous  of  the  claim  of  chron- 
ological antecedence  made  for  Luther,  This  was 
a  weakness  of  a  very  venial  order.  The  fact  is  that 
neither  Luther  nor  Zwingli  was  more  than  a  cen- 
tre of  the  reformatory  movement  which  had  been 
gathering  force  before  they  were  born.  Leaders  do 
not  create  the  movements  they  head.  The  fame  of 
Luther  has  so  eclipsed  Zwingli's  that  the  latter's 
claim  of  precedence  in  time  is  one  of  the  unnoticed 
things  in  history.  They  came  to  a  knowledge  of 
the  same  essential  truths  simultaneously,  and  should 
have  rejoiced  in  the  fact.  Instead,  Zwingli  was 
anxious  to  assure  everybody  that  he  had  discovered 
the  Gospel  before  Luther  was  heard  of  in  Switzer- 
land, as  if  it  were  some  invention  on  which  he 
sought  a  patent!  Erasmus  was  another  one  who 
repeatedly  remarked  that  he  had  not  read  Luther, 
but  then  this  conduct  was  in  order  to  make  life 
easier  for  himself  with  his  friends  among  the  Catho- 
lic princes  and  ecclesiastics.  He  also  had  his  claim, 
and  it  was  that  Luther,  and,  a  fortiori,  Zwingli,  only 
taught  what  he  had  told  them !  * 

From  the  Zwingli  correspondence  of  15 19  it  is 
learned  that  opposition  to  his  preaching  had  led  to 
such  violence  that  he  was  in  some  personal  danger  * ; 


'  I.,  254,  •*  Cf.  Emerton's  Erasmus,  e.  g„  29S  sqq. 

'  See  Excursus  at  end  of  this  chapter. 

»P.  7.  *  VII.,  74;  Supplement,  21. 


I5I9]         Opening  Year  in  Zurich  131 

and  also  that  he  had  intimate  relations  with  Cardinal 
Schinner.' 

In  the  same  year,  15 19,  the  plague  appeared 
in  Switzerland.'  As  it  had  not  yet  come  to 
Zurich,  Zwingli  went  on  a  holiday  that  summer  to 
Pfaefers,^  about  sixty  miles  south-east  of  Zurich. 
In  the  village  was  a  large  Benedictine  monastery, 
in  which  he  probably  stopped.  There  Zwingli  was 
when  the  news  reached  him  that  the  plague  had 
broken  out  in  Zurich.  As  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
people's  priest  to  be  on  service  in  the  city  during 
plague  time,  he  hastened  back,*  and  did  his  duty 
faithfully.  The  plague  was  very  severe,  for  2500 
died  of  it  out  of  an  aggregate  population  in  the 
three  parishes  of  only  I7,cx)0.  It  broke  out  on  St. 
Lawrence's  day  (Wednesday,  August  10,  15 19), 
reached  its  height  September  12th,  and  subsided  in 
Christmas  week,'  yet  lingered  for  a  year  after  that. 
Zwingli  fell  a  victim  toward  the  end  of  September,' 
^E.g.,  vii.,  75,  96,  98. 

'  Allusions  to  its  being  in  Basel  occur  in  vii.,  83. 

'Allusion  to  this  visit  occurs  in  vii.,  119.  The  famous  medicinal 
spring  is  in  a  deep  gorge  under  the  village.  The  monastery  where 
he  probably  stopped  is  now  a  lunatic  asylum.  He  went  thither  in 
the  latter  part  of  July,  as  an  undated  letter  (vii.,  84)  alludes  to  his 
absence  from  the  city  and  to  a  money  payment  due  on  St.  Verena's 
day  (July  22d). 

■*  He  took  the  most  direct  route,  which  was  probably  down  the 
Lake  of  Zurich,  and  not  the  more  comfortable  one,  perhaps,  by  way 
of  Old  St.  John's  (vii.,  88).  This  accounts  for  the  complaint,  in  the 
passage  just  cited,  of  the  abbot  of  Old  St.  John's  that  Zwingli  had 
not  visited  him  on  his  return. 

*So  Bullinger,  i.,  28. 

*  VH.,  87,  note.  On  September  22d,  a  friend,  writing  from  Wesen, 
speaks  of  him  as  up  to  that  time  having  escaped  (vii.,  87).     Bullinger 


132  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1519 

and  was  very  sick.  By  November  he  was  able  to 
write  again,'  But  his  recovery  was  slow.  On  No- 
vember 30th,  he  complains  that  the  disease  had  left 
his  memory  weakened,  his  spirits  reduced,  so  that 
his  mind  wandered  when  preaching,  and  after 
preaching  he  felt  thoroughly  exhausted.'  On  De- 
cember 31st,  he  reported  himself  as  well  again,  and 
that  the  last  ulcer  caused  by  the  malady  had  healed. ° 
But  his  rejoicing  was  premature,  as  on  March  27, 
1520,  he  complains  that  he  had  eaten  and  drunk 
many  drugs  to  get  rid  of  his  fever,  and  still  his  head 
was  weak,  although  he  was  daily  growing  better." 
After  his  recovery,  as  a  memorial  of  this  serious  ill- 
ness, he  composed  this  poem,  which  has  some  literary 
merit,  and  at  all  events  shows  that  his  look  into 
eternity  had  sobered  his  spirit : 

A   CHRISTIAN    SONG    WRITTEN    BY    HULDRYCH    ZWINGLI 
WHEN    HE    WAS    ATTACKED    BY    THE    PESTILENCE." 

/.  At  the  Beginning  of  the  Illness. 

Help.  Lord  God,  help  So  let  it  be  ! 

In  this  trouble  !  Do  what  Thou  wilt ; 


says  (i.,  28)  he  fell  sick  "in  August,"  but  this  is  a  mistake.  He  was 
sick  when  Andrew  wrote  on  October  13th  (vii.,  88,  cf.  pp.  65,  66  of 
this  volume). 

'  Andrew's  letter  (vii.,  88,  see  p.  66  of  this  volume)  acknowledging 
one  from  Zwingli  is  unfortunately  not  dated,  but  is  probably  cor- 
rectly put  by  the  editors  before  November  6,  15 19. 

2  VII.,  99.  3vii_    104.  ^  VII.,  124. 

'II.,  2,  270-272  ;  pp.  269-270  discuss  the  origin  of  the  poem  and 
its  form  ;  pp.  272-274  reprint  a  poetical  paraphrase  in  modern  Ger- 
man, which  departs  widely  from  the  original ;  the  poetical  version 
given  in  the  English  translation  in  Merle  D'Aubigne's  History  of  the 
Reformation  (ed.   Edinburgh  :  Oliver  &  Boyd,  1853,  ii.,  466  sqq.). 


\ 


1519]         Opening  Year  in  Zurich  133 


I  think,  Death  is  at  the  door. 

Stand  before '  me,  Christ ; 

For  Thou  hast  overcome  him  ! 

To  Thee  I  cry  : 

If  it  is  Thy  will. 

Take  out  the  dart. 

Which  wounds  me  ! 

Nor  lets  me  have  an  hour's 

Rest  or  repose  ! 

Will'st  Thou  however 

That  Death  take  me 

In  the  midst  of  my  days. 


Me  nothing  lacks.' 

Thy  vessel  am  I ; 

To  make  or  break  altogether. 

For,  if  Thou  takest  away 

My  spirit 

From  this  earth. 

Thou  dost  it,  that  it  ^  may  not 

grow  worse. 
Nor  spot 
The  pious   lives   and   ways    ot 

others. 


II.  In  the  Midst  of  his  Illness. 


Console  me.  Lord  God,  console 

me ! 
The  illness  increases. 
Pain  and  fear  seize 
My  soul  and  body. 
Come  to  me  then. 
With   Thy    grace,    O   my  only 

consolation  ! 
If*  will  surely  save 
Everyone,  who 
His  heart's  desire 
And  hope  sets 
On  Thee,  and  who  besides 


My  tongue  is  dumb, 

It  cannot  speak  a  word. 

My  senses  are  all  blighted. 

Therefore  is  it  time 

That  Thou  my  fight 

Conductest  hereafter ; 

Since  I  am  not 

So  strong,  that  I 

Can  bravely 

Make  resistance 

To  the  Devil's  wiles  and  treach- 

erous  hand. 
Still  will  my  spirit 


and  the  better  one  in  Schaff's  History  of  the  Christian  Church  (vii., 
44-46,  with  the  original  text),  represent  the  original  form  to  some 
extent,  but  they  do  not  give  all  the  lines  and  are  paraphrastic.  In 
order  to  enable  the  reader  to  have  the  entire  poem  and  the  exact 
meaning  of  the  author,  it  is  here  given  in  literal  prose  translation, 
line  by  line,  as  far  as  the  idiom  admits. 

'  In  the  sense  of  "  protect." 

^  The  words  may  also  mean  equally  well,  "  nothing  shall  be  too 
much  for  me." 

2  "  It,"  i.  e.,  my  spirit. 

*  *'  It,"  i.  <?.,  Thy  grace. 


134  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1519 

Despises  all  gain  and  loss.  Constantly  abide  by  Thee,  how- 

Now  all  is  up.  ever  he  rages. 

///.  During  Co?ivalescefice. 

Sound,  Lord  God,  sound  !  Sometime  endure 

I  think,  I  am  Perhaps  with  greater  anguish, 

Already  coming  back.'  Than  would  now  have 

Yes,  if  it  please  Thee,  Happened, **  Lord  ! 

That  no  spark  of  sin  Since  I  came 

Rule  me  longer  on  earth,  So  near*  ; 

Then  my  lips  must  So  will  I  still 

Thy  praise  and  teaching  The  spite  and  boasting 

Bespeak  more  Of  this  world 

Than  ever  before.  Bear  joyfully  for  the  sake  of  the 

However  it  may  go,  reward 

In  simplicity  and  with  no  danger.        By  Thy  help. 

Although  I  must  Without  which  nothing  can  be 

The  punishment  of  death  perfect. 

So  in  useful  labours,  but  also  with  many  painful 
hours,  much  anxiety,  an  almost  deadly  sickness  fol- 
lowed by  a  slow  recovery,  the  first  year  of  Zwingli's 
residence  in  Zurich  passed  away.  His  mode  of  life 
is  thus  described,  and  the  description  is  true  of  his 
remaining  years:  he  rose  early,  and  studied,  stand- 
ing up,  till  10  o'clock ;  after  dinner,  which  commonly 
at  that  time  in  Zurich  came  on  at  1 1  A.M.,  until  2 
P.M.,  he  was  free  to  all  who  came;  from  2  P.M.  till 
supper-time  he  studied ;  after  supper  he  walked  out 
a  little;  then  returned  to  study  or  to  write  letters, 
which  latter  occupation  sometimes  kept  him  up  till 


'/.  e.,  to  health,  to  myself. 
'/.<?.,  if  I  had  died  this  time. 
'/.  e.t  to  death's  door. 


1519J  Opening  Year  in  Zurich  135 

midnight."  He  read  much  in  the  classics:  Aristotle, 
Plato,  Thucydides,  Demosthenes,  and  Hesiod,  Lu- 
cian,  Theocritus,  and  Aristophanes,  Homer,  and 
especially  Pindar,  are  to  be  mentioned  as  the  Greek 
authors  he  was  most  familiar  with ;  while  his  Latin 
favourites  were  Horace,  Sallust,  and  Seneca.  He 
had  begun  the  study  of  Hebrew  at  Einsiedeln,  but 
soon  dropped  it.  Now  he  took  it  up  again  under 
Andreas  Boeschenstein.*  As  at  Glarus,  he  had 
pupils  in  his  house.  He  also  gave  instruction  in 
Greek  in  the  cathedral  school.^ 

EXCURSUS 

/.   0?i  Zivingli  s  Autographic  Pmilinus,  i.  e.,  Self- 
made   Transcript  of  the  Pauline  Epistles. 

That  the  text  of  this  autographic  copy  is  the  first  Erasmus  is  ac- 
knowledged. This  had  appeared  ill  the  spring  of  15 16.  The  Greek 
text  itself  is  dated  merely  with  the  year  1516  ;  the  colophon,  February, 
1516;  the  last  page  of  the  Annotations  of  Erasmus,  which  is  part 
of  the  book,  the  Kalends  of  March,  1516  ;  the  preface  of  Froben,  the 
printer  and  publisher,  "  Basileas  sexto  Caleiidas  Martias  Anno 
MDXVI,"  i.  e.,  Monday,  February  25,  15 16.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  Zwingli  ever  possessed  personally  a  copy  of  this  first  edition  of  the 
Greek  Testament.  That  which  is  called  his  Bible  of  the  Glarean  and 
Einsiedeln  periods  is  a  Latin  Bible,  and  his  first  Greek  Bible  is  the 
Aldine  edition  of  15 18.  See  the  catalogue  of  the  Zwingli  exhibi- 
tion of  January,  1884,  pp.  7,  8.  In  the  lines  cited  on  page  121, 
Zwingli  gives  the  date  of  his  Paulinus  as  15 17  ;  while  in  his  Arnica 
Exegesis,  which  appeared  in    1527,  he   says   (iii.,  543):     "God    is 

'  So  Myconius,  pp.  7,  8  ;  BuUinger,  i.,  30  ;  and  pp.  91,  92  of  this 
volume. 

*  He  confessed  in  1526  that  his  Hebrew  learning  was  inconsider- 
able (vii.,  534). 

'  Zwingli  gives  an  insight  into  his  busy  life  in  his  letter  to  Rhe- 
nanus  of  June  17,  1520  (Supplement,  25-27). 


13^  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1519 

my  witness  that  I  owe  my  knowledge  of  the  essence  and  contents 
of  the  Gospel  to  the  reading  of  the  writings  of  John  and  of  Au- 
gustine, and  with  special  attention,  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  a  copy 
of  which  I  made  with  my  own  hands  eleven  years  ago."  Myconius, 
Zwingli's  first  biographer,  explicitly  puts  the  copy  in  the  Glarean 
period,  for  when  writing  of  it  he  says:  "  He  copied  Paul's  Epistles 
and  committed  them  to  memory"  (loc.  cit,,  p.  5).  So  does  Bul- 
linger,  who  however  relied  much  upon  Myconius,  for,  speaking  of 
the  Glarean  period,  he  says  :  "Among  other  performances  he  copied 
the  Epistles  of  Paul  in  Greek  and  committed  them  to  memory. 
And  when  the  first  Annotations  of  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam  appeared 
he  copied  some  of  the  notable  ones  into  his  written  Pauliniis,  as  he 
did  also  annotations  from  Origen,  Chrysostom,  Ambrose,  Jerome " 
{loc.  cit.,  i.,  8).  The  explanation  of  Zwingli's  apparent  uncertainty 
whether  the  Paulinus  was  made  in  15 16  or  1517  is  probably  that  the 
copy  used  was  that  in  the  library  at  Einsiedeln,  and  the  copying  was 
begun  during  his  visits  there  before  he  finally  left  Glarus,  i.  e.,  be- 
tween April  and  October,  1516,  but  finished  the  next  year,  and  the 
marginalia  later.  The  copy  he  made  of  the  Epistles  is  in  the  city 
library  in  Zurich,  being  presented  to  the  city  in  1634  by  his  great- 
granddaughter,  Anna  Zwingli.  See  preface  to  this  volume,  and 
the  photographs  direct  from  its  pages. 

//.    O71  Zwingli  s  Preaching  against  the  Petisioners 
and  Pensions. 

Bullinger  (i.,  51),  as  quoted  in  Zwingli's  Works  (ii.,  2,  350),  thus 
wrote  of  Zwingli's  preaching  in  1521  against  the  pensioners  and  the 
pensions:  "Zwingli  preached  at  this  time  very  earnestly  against 
taking  money,  saying  that  it  would  break  up  and  disturb  the  pious 
Confederation.  He  spoke  also  against  unions  with  princes  and 
lords.  If  they  were  made,  each  honest  man  should  regard  them. 
What  had  been  promised  should  also  be  kept.  Therefore,  no  one 
should  enter  into  any  unions  ;  and  if  God  helps  a  people  out  of 
unions,  they  should  avoid  entering  into  them  again  ;  for  they  cost 
much  blood.  And  I  wish,  said  he,  Zwingli,  that  they  had  made  a 
hole  in  the  union  with  the  Pope,  and  had  given  his  messenger  some- 
thing to  carry  home  on  his  back.  He  said  also  that  one  would  be 
aroused  about  a  voracious  wolf,  but  they  do  not  offer  protection  from 


-       »        A      ft    ^  ^  ^A  *"' 

/  I  ?  'V**'/      '^  A.M4  I 


'-s^  v^;,  ^Vk^;  ^^  ?!  ^j::$::^ 

II.,  20  eauToi-  TO  III.,   17  <caTapvS<raio   .,,„^.. 

,  f'T'/o^aig  MARGINAL  NOTES. 


^Al^'fi^        i  'h  '"^'^  '"^^'  ^^  U/*<v^  \(  fl""*'' 


>   C^K««^ 


rxXctnii' 


.' '  .^ A  ':.,ce^. ,;«niv wro^.:)c  ^-  r  Hr* 


«r*i 


FACSIMILE  OF  0*L.  II.,  20  ' 


I  IN  ZWINGLI'S  COPY  OF  THE   PAUL 


'ISTLES,  MADE  BY  HIS  OWN  HAND,  SHOWING  Hf3  f 


1519]  Opening  Year  in  Zurich  137 

the  wolves  which  destroy  men.  They  may  well  wear  red  hats  and 
mantles;  for  if  one  should  shake  them,  ducats  and  crowns  would  fall 
out ;  if  one  should  wring  them,  there  would  run  from  them  his 
son's,  brother's,  father's,  and  good  friends'  blood." 

The  editors  of  Zwingli's  Works  then  go  on  (ii.,  2,  350)  to  say,  and 
in  order  to  present  a  concluding  specimen  of  Zwingli's  preaching 
against  pensioners  and  pensions,  the  passage  is  here  given:  "  When 
the  news  was  spread  abroad  of  the  defeat  at  Pavia,  on  the  24th  of 
January,  1525,  when  of  ten  thousand  Swiss  five  thousand  remained 
upon  the  battle-field,  and  the  other  fleeing  five  thousand  were  plun- 
dered, as  they  deserved,  by  the  country-people,  and  driven  home  in 
disgrace,  bringing  nothing  with  them  but  rags  and  sickness,  great 
grief  was  caused,  and  complaints  arose  throughout  the  Confederation, 
and  people  cursed  aloud  the  union  with  France,  the  pensions,  and 
the  war  money.  Then,  as  Bullinger  reports,  '  Zwingli  stood  in  the 
pulpit  on  Sunday,  the  6th  of  March  [1525],  and  preached  about  the 
old  condition  of  the  Confederation,  telling  how  simple  and  pious 
the  people  of  former  days  had  been,  who  had  received  from  God  great 
victories  and  special  mercies.  Now,  the  people  have  changed  ;  there- 
fore, God  is  punishing  us  so  severely.  And  it  cannot  be  helped,  un- 
less we  return  again  to  our  former  piety,  innocence,  and  simplicity. 
Otherwise,  we  shall  gradually  fall  like  the  leaves,  and  finally  be 
entirely  destroyed,  yes,  ruined.  God  will  not  endure  arrogance. 
He  showed  how  there  were  in  the  Confederation  two  kinds  of 
nobility,  who  did  much  more  injury  than  the  old  nobility  had  ever 
done  in  times  past.  For  these  were  in  the  midst  of  us,  and  were  of  us. 
The  first  nobility  are  the  pensioners,  whom  he  called  pear-roasters, 
because  they  sat  at  home  behind  the  stove,  and  did  not  come  out,  and 
still  they  got  at  the  treasures  of  all  the  lords.  They  said  to  the  lords 
great  things  about  the  children  of  honest  people,  with  whom  they  de- 
sired to  bring  about  this  and  that,  of  which  they,  however,  said 
nothing  either  to  the  fathers  or  the  children,  and  still  less  noticed 
them.  And  such  do  much  greater  injury  among  us  than  any  foreign 
lords.  The  other  nobility  are  the  captains,  who  walk  around  in 
such  rich  silks,  silver,  gold,  and  precious  stones,  with  rings  and 
chains,  so  that  it  is  a  disgrace  to  the  sun  and  moon,  not  to  mention 
God  and  man.  One  is  golden  aVjove,  and  silver  below ;  another  is 
gold  below,  and  velvet  or  damask  above  ;  and  the  clothing  so  slit 
and  cut  open,  that  it  is  a  disgrace  that  one  should  allow  them  to 
strut   around   so   publicly  before  people's  eyes.      You  know  well, 


1519]  opening  Year  in  Zurich  137 

the  wolves  which  destroy  men.  They  may  well  wear  red  hats  and 
mantles;  for  if  one  should  shake  them,  ducats  and  crowns  would  fall 
out ;  if  one  should  wring  them,  there  would  run  from  them  his 
son's,  brother's,  father's,  and  good  friends'  blood." 

The  editors  of  Zwingli's  IVorks  then  go  on  (ii.,  2,  350)  to  say,  and 
in  order  to  present  a  concluding  specimen  of  Zwingli's  preaching 
against  pensioners  and  pensions,  tlie  passage  is  here  given  :  "  When 
the  news  was  spread  abroad  of  the  defeat  at  Pavia,  on  the  24th  of 
January,  1525,  when  of  ten  thousand  Swiss  five  thousand  remained 
upon  the  battle-field,  and  the  other  fleeing  five  thousand  were  plun- 
dered, as  they  deserved,  by  the  country-people,  and  driven  home  in 
disgrace,  bringing  nothing  with  them  but  rags  and  sickness,  great 
grief  was  caused,  and  complaints  arose  throughout  the  Confederation, 
and  people  cursed  aloud  the  union  with  France,  the  pensions,  and 
the  war  money.  Then,  as  Bullinger  reports,  '  Zwingli  stood  in  the 
pulpit  on  Sunday,  the  6th  of  March  [1525],  and  preached  about  the 
old  condition  of  the  Confederation,  telling  how  simple  and  pious 
the  people  of  former  days  had  been,  who  had  received  from  God  great 
victories  and  special  mercies.  Now,  the  people  have  changed  ;  there- 
fore, God  is  punishing  us  so  severely.  And  it  cannot  be  helped,  un- 
less we  return  again  to  our  former  piety,  innocence,  and  simplicity. 
Otherwise,  we  shall  gradually  fall  like  the  leaves,  and  finally  be 
entirely  destroyed,  yes,  ruined.  God  will  not  endure  arrogance. 
He  showed  how  there  were  in  the  Confederation  two  kinds  of 
nobility,  who  did  much  more  injury  than  the  old  nobility  had  ever 
done  in  times  past.  For  these  were  in  the  midst  of  us,  and  were  of  us. 
The  first  nobility  are  the  pensioners,  whom  he  called  pear-roasters, 
because  they  sat  at  home  behind  the  stove,  and  did  not  come  out,  and 
still  they  got  at  the  treasures  of  all  the  lords.  They  said  to  the  lords 
great  things  about  the  children  of  honest  people,  with  whom  they  de- 
sired to  bring  about  this  and  that,  of  which  they,  however,  said 
nothing  either  to  the  fathers  or  the  children,  and  still  less  noticed 
them.  And  such  do  much  greater  injury  among  us  than  any  foreign 
lords.  The  other  nobility  are  the  captains,  who  walk  around  in 
such  rich  silks,  silver,  gold,  and  precious  stones,  with  rings  and 
chains,  so  that  it  is  a  disgrace  to  the  sun  and  moon,  not  to  mention 
God  and  man.  One  is  golden  above,  and  silver  below ;  another  is 
gold  below,  and  velvet  or  damask  above  ;  and  the  clothing  so  slit 
and  cut  open,  that  it  is  a  disgrace  that  one  should  allow  them  to 
strut  around   so   publicly  before  people's  eyes.      You  know  well, 


13S  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1519 

honest  people,  although  it  was  claimed  against  me  that  I  had  aW 
tacked  these  people  and  called  them  blood-suckers  and  leeches,  that 
I  did  not  do  it.  But  still,  I  must  now  say  and  publicly  tell  you 
what  these  captains  are  like.  And  it  is  the  same  to  me,  whether  any 
people  regret  it  or  not.  For  the  figure  is  in  itself  not  as  bad  as  those 
are  of  whom  I  speak.  They  are  like  butchers  who  drive  cattle  to 
Constance  ;  they  drive  the  cattle  out,  take  the  money  for  them,  and 
come  home  without  the  cattle  ;  then  they  go  out  again,  and  do  like- 
wise repeatedly.  Thus,  also,  the  pensioners  and  captains  do.  They 
have  always  succeeded  (except  once)  in  coming  home  from  the 
battles  and  the  cannon — I  do  not  know  where  they  stationed  them- 
selves— and  bring  their  money-belts  full  of  money,  and  have  driven 
away  the  children  of  honest  people.  And  immediately  they  begin 
again  and  collect  another  herd.  These  they  also  drive  out ;  and  thus 
they  become  rich.  Now  consider,  whether  one  can  blame  these  blood- 
merchants  severely  enough ;  see,  also,  how  these  are  a  much  less 
endurable  nobility  than  the  former.  Ye  know  that  I  staked  my  neck 
on  it  in  the  beginning,  that  the  union  with  the  king  would  bring  the 
Confederation  into  great  difficulties.  Thus,  I  say  now  again  that 
things  are  not  over,  and  that  they  will  become  worse, — yes,  must  be- 
come worse — I  stake  my  life  and  limb  upon  this, — unless  things 
change.  For  the  pensioners  sit  everywhere  in  the  regiments,  do  not 
wish  to  give  up  the  pensions,  and  therefore  do  not  wish  to  forbid 
war.  And  the  captains  lead  astray  as  many  sheep'  as  they  wish,  and 
still  people  take  their  hats  off  to  them.  If  a  wolf  takes  away  a  sheep 
or  a  goose,  one  is  up  and  aroused.  These  lead  astray  many  proud 
men,  and  no  one  does  anything  about  it.  For  everything  is  over- 
looked in  this  matter.  Of  course  no  one  must  go  away  to  war,  ex- 
cept him  who  so  desires,  and  still  no  authority  in  the  union,  no 
father  dares  forbid  his  children  to  go  away  to  war.  Is  that  a  divine 
union,  and  an  advantage  for  the  Confederation  ?  I  tell  you,  if  people 
do  not  help  to  do  away  with  such  things,  God's  vengeance  will  follow 
manifold  ;  for  God  does  not  allow  such  arrogance  and  deception  of 
the  poor,  common  man  to  go  unavenged.  God  says,  do  away  with  the 
bad  in  the  midst  of  you.  Therefore,  if  one  desires  to  repent,  one  must 
do  this  promptly  and  straightway.  Still,  if  one  repents,  and  shows  a 
certain  regret  for  his  misdeed,  let  people  take  his  possessions  and 
property  which  he  has  thus  gained,  and  divide  it  among  the  widows 


'  The  German  by  misprint  has  "  schiff  "  instead  of  "  schaf. 


1519]  Opening  Year  in  Zurich  139 

and  orphans  to  whom  he  is  responsible.  For  one  must  at  once  de- 
stroy tills  mammon  of  riches,  brought  together  by  pensions  and  cap- 
tains' money,  like  mole-hills  in  the  meadows.  And  if  people  do  not, 
one  should  take  staff  in  hand,  and  so  punish  the  mowers  in  the 
meadows,  that  they  shall  be  an  example  to  the  others.  Finally, 
he  urged  the  people  to  earnest  prayer,  that  God  would  grant  us  a  cor- 
rect understanding,  so  that  the  right  should  please  us,  and  we  should 
do  that  which  pleases  God.'  " 

///.    On    the   Alliisio7is   to   Luther   in   the   Zzvingli 
Correspondence  of  I5ig. 

Luther's  name  is  first  mentioned  in  the  Zwingli  correspondence  in 
the  letter  of  Nesen,  the  friend  and  travelling  companion  of  Melanch- 
thon,  from  I.ouvain,  April,  1518  (vii.,  36-40). 

The  following  writings  of  Luther  are  alluded  to  in  the  Zwingli 
correspondence  of  1519  (vii.,  61-104). 

1.  A  letter  from  Luther  to  Bernardus  and  Conradus  Adelmann, 
canons  of  Augsburg. 

2.  "  Ein  Kurtze  form  das  Paternoster  zu  verstan  vnd  zu  bette  flir  die 
iungen  kinder  im  Christen  glauben  durch  Doctor  Martinum  Luther  : 
Augustiner  ordens  zu  Vitteberg.  Gedruckt  zii  Basel  durch  Ada 
Petri.     Als  man  zalt.  M.  D.  xix." 

Reprinted  in  the  Weimar  edition  of  Luther's  works,  vi.,  9-19. 

3.  "  Eyn  deutsch  Theologia.  das  ist  Eyn  edles  Buchleyn,  von  rec- 
tem  vorstand,  was  Adam  vnd  Christus  sey,  vnd  wie  Adam  yn  vns  ster- 
ben,  vnd  Christus  ersteen  sail." 

No  mention  of  the  Petri  reprint,  which  is  apparently  referred  to  here 
in  the  Zwingli  correspondence,  is  made  in  the  Weimar  edition  of  Lu- 
ther, which  is  usually  strong  in  bibliography.  But  then  that  edition  (i. , 
378.  379)  only  presents  the  preface,  which  to  be  sure  is  the  only  part 
of  the  book  which  Luther  wrote.  Best  edition  of  the  complete  work 
by  J.  K.  F.  Knaake,  Weimar  (H.  Boehlau),  1883.  In  English  trans- 
lation by  Miss  Susanna  Winkworth,  Theologia  Germanica,  London, 
1854,  and  later  editions. 

4.  "  Disputatio  et  excusatio  F.  Martini  Luther  aduersus  crimina- 
tiones  D.  Johannis  Eccii." 

Original  edition,  Wittenberg,  1519  ;  Weimar  edition,  ii.,  158-161. 

5.  "Die   Sieben   puszpsalm   mit  deutscher  auszlegung  nach  dem 


HO  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1519 

schrifftlichen  synne  tzu  Christi  vnd  gottis  gnaden,  neben  seyn  selben. 
ware  erkentniss.  grundlich  gerichtet." 

Original  edition,  Wittenberg,  1517  ;  Weimar  edition,  i.,  158-220. 

6.  "  Resolvtio  Lvtheriana  svper  propositione  sva  decima  tertia,  de 
potestate  papae. " 

Original  edition,  Wittenberg,  1519  ;  Basel  edition,  1519  ;  Weimar 
edition,  ii.,  183-240. 

7.  "  Disputatio  excellentium.  D.  doctoru  lohannis  Eccij  &  Andrea 
Carolostadij  q  cepta  est.  Lipsie  XXVII.  lunij.  AN.  M.D.  xix.  Dis- 
putatio secunda.  D.  Doctoru  lohanis  Eccij  &  Andree  Carolostadij 
q  cepit  XV,  lulij.  Disputatio.  Eiusdem  D.  lohannis  Eccij  &  D. 
Martini  Lutheri  Augustiniani  q  cepit  IIII.  lulij." 

The  original  author  and  date  are  uncertain  ;  but  very  likely  the 
author  was  Luther  and  the  date  December,  1519.  The  Weimar  edi- 
tion (ii.  254-383)  reprints  merely  the  debate  between  Luther  and  Eck. 

8.  Ein  Sermon  von  dem  elichen  standt  Doctoris  Martini  Luther 
Augustiner  zu  Wittenburgh  geprediget  im  Tausend  funf  hundert  vu 
neuntzehenden  Jar. 

Original  edition,  Leipzig,  1519  ;  Weimar  edition,  ii.  166-171. 

Allusions  to  Luther  in  the  Zwingli  correspondence  in  chronological 
order : 

February  22,  1519.  Zwingli  to  Rhenanus  :  "Thanks  for  writing 
so  carefully  about  M.  Luther.  But  the  Abbot  of  St.  John's  has  very 
opportunely  sent  me  the  letter  of  a  certain  tutor  at  Wittenberg,  in 
which  the  writer  felicitates  him  upon  reading  the  writings  of  Luther, 
a  man  who  really  recalls  the  image  of  Christ.  He  adds  that  as  soon 
as  Luther  got  release  from  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Sixtus  [Cardinal 
Cajetan]  at  Augsburg  [October  20,  15 18]  he  returned  straight  to 
Wittenberg  [arrived  October  31st],  where  he  now  preaches  Christ 
constantly,  to  the  great  admiration  of  all,  prepared  even  to  be 
crucified  for  him.  .  .  .  Luther  is  approved  by  all  the  learned  at 
Zurich"  (Suppl.,  15,  16). 

March  19.  From  Rhenanus,  Basel  :  "  I  have  copied  for  your  ben- 
efit the  letter  Martin  Luther  sent  to  the  Adelmanns  of  Augsburg. 
The  manly  and  firm  bearing  of  the  man  will  delight  you  "(vii.,  71). 

March  21.  Zwingli  to  Rhenanus  :  "I  read  eagerly  your  words 
and  Luther's"  (Suppl.,  17). 

March  25.  Same  to  same:  "[Sander]  did  not  read  the  copy  of 
Luther's  letter,  but  he  had  heard  a  few  things  from  me,  such,  for 
instance,  as  that  the  words  of  Luther  and  Eck  taken  down  hurriedly 


1519]  Opening  Year  in  Zurich  141 

by  shorthand  writers  [at  the  Leipzig  Disputation,  June  27  sqq., 
15 19]  will  be  revised  and  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  the  Christian 
world,  etc."  (Suppl.,  18). 

May  7.  From  Rhenanus,  Basel:  "You  soon  shall  have  the 
Theses  of  Martin  Luther's  which  he  is  to  defend  at  Leipzig  against 
errors  old  and  new,  together  with  a  letter  in  which  he  portrays  Eck 
better  than  any  artist  could  "  (vii.,  74). 

May  24.  Same  to  same,  Basel  :  "  Adam  Petri,  the  printer — I 
think  you  know  him — is  about  to  print  some  new  treatises  of  Luther's 
German,  a  plain  and  characteristically  Lutheran  commentary  on  the 
Lord's  Prayer  [cf.  i. ,  254],  and  also  a  German  Theology  [the  famous 
Theologia  Gfr?nanica  so  admired  by  Luther],  compared  with  which 
the  subtle  theology  of  Scotus  appears  gross  and  dull ;  and  other  books 
of  this  sort.  If  you  publicly  commend  these  to  the  people,  that  is, 
persuade  them  to  buy  them,  the  work  upon  which  you  are  engaged 
will  succeed  in  accordance  with  your  most  ardent  desires.  ...  I 
send  you  as  a  gift  the  Theses  of  Luther  against  Eck  and  the  [com- 
mentary on  the  Lord's]  Prayer  in  German"  (vii.,  77).  [Zwingli 
commended  these  from  the  pulpit,  Myconius  says  (p.  7),  with- 
out reading  them.  But  this  is  apparently  contradicted  by  what 
follows.] 

June  7.  Zwingli  to  Rhenanus  :  "  I  do  not  fear  that  Luther's  com- 
mentary on  the  Lord's  Prayer  will  be  displeasing  to  me,  nor  the  pop- 
ular "  Theology,"  which  you  say  is  being  finished,  and  spread  among 
the  people  in  parts  every  day.  I  shall  buy  a  considerable  quantity, 
especially  if  he  deals  somewhat  with  the  adoration  of  saints  in  the 
commentary"  (SuppL,  21.  22). 

June  25.  Same  to  same  :  "  When  the  writings  of  Luther  have 
come  from  the  press,  please  send  them  by  the  first  messenger  or 
carrier  who  can  bring  a  considerable  number"  (Suppl.,  23). 

July  2.  From  Rhenanus,  Basel:  "If  this  Lucius,  who  brings 
you  this  letter,  seems  to  you  to  have  enough  prudence  and  acumen, 
I  should  like  to  have  him  carry  the  tracts  of  Luther,  particularly 
the  commentary  on  the  Lord's  Prayer — the  edition  for  laymen 
—  to  sell  them  from  town  to  town,  and  throughout  the  country, 
even  from  house  to  house,  for  this  will  forward  our  plans  in  a  wonder- 
ful degree,  and  will  be  an  assistance  to  him.  And  I  do  not  see  why 
he  should  not  be  under  great  obligation  to  you,  if  by  your  exhortation 
particularly  he  shall  have  been  changed  from  a  tramp  to  a  book- 
agent  I     And  then  the  wider  he  is  known  the  more  easily  he  will 


142  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1519 

find  buyers.  Who  will  hesitate  to  give  him  a  sesterce  [t.  <?.,  4J^ 
cents]  for  an  excellent  book  when  he  would  in  any  event  have  made 
him  a  present  of  a  trifle  ?  But  care  must  be  taken  that  he  have  no 
other  kind  of  books  to  sell,  especially  at  the  present  time.  For  he 
will  sell  the  more  books  of  Luther's  if  he  has  no  other,  for  the  pur- 
chaser will  be,  so  to  speak,  coerced  into  buying  them,  as  would  not 
be  the  case  if  he  had  a  variety.  If,  however,  you  do  not  deem  him 
a  suitable  person  look  about  for  some  other  one  to  whom  you  can 
give  letters  to  your  friends,  both  clerical  and  lay.  In  the  meantime 
I  have  become  owner  of  Luther's  commentary  in  German  on  the 
Seven  Penitential  Psalms,  which  is  both  devotional  and  learned  " 
(vii.,  81).  [Rhenanus  was  very  zealous  in  distributing  Luther's 
works,  and  as  appears  from  his  letter  was  quite  modern  in  his 
methods.  If  living  to-day  he  would  be  sought  for  to  run  a  sub- 
scription-book department  !] 

July  2.  Zwingli  to  Rhenanus  :  "  William  [a  Falconibus] 
dropped  this  at  dinner  when  Luther  had  been  mentioned  ;  the 
provost  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Peter's  in  Basel  [Ludovicus  Berus] 
has  sent  Luther's  works  to  Rome  as  soon  as  they  were  printed  " 
(Suppl.,  24), 

July  2.  From  Simon  Stumph,  Basel  :  "  Have  the  copies  of  M. 
Luther  on  the  Lord's  Prayer  distributed  everywhere,  both  in  country 
and  in  city,  among  the  unlearned  people  as  well  as  among  the 
priests.  For  I  trust  that  all  the  people  of  Zurich  will  buy  it  on  your 
advice  ;  and  I  think  it  would  be  well  if  someone  were  engaged  to 
do  nothing  else  than  to  carry  it  around  from  place  to  place,  so 
matters  necessary  for  salvation  should  become  known  among  all 
people"  (vii.,  82). 

July  17.  From  James  Ammann,  Basel :  "I  understand  that  you 
have  Luther's  "  Pater  Noster,"  as  they  call  it ;  otherwise  I  should 
have  sent  it  by  this  messenger.  I  think  that  Luther  has  nothing  else 
out  which  you  have  not  seen  except  a  short  sermon  in  German  on  the 
married  state.  As  soon  as  it  is  printed  at  Strassburg  I  shall  send  it 
to  you.     I  have  seen  a  copy  of  it  at  Beatus'  [Rhenanus]  "  (vii.,  83). 

September  23.  From  Nepos  (proof-reader  for  the  printer  Froben), 
Basel :  "A  little  work  by  Luther  on  the  power  of  the  pope  is  in  our 
hands,  and  as  soon  as  it  is  printed  it  shall  come  to  you  "  (vii.,  86,  87). 

November  13.  Zasius,  the  eminent  jurist  of  Freiburg,  one 
of  the  great  men  among  the  Church  laity,  sent  a  long  letter  all 
about   Luther,    in   which   these   sentences  occur  :    "  There   are   in 


1519]         Opening  Year  in  Zurich  143 

[Luther]  many  qualities  which  you  may  praise  and  defend,  on  the 
other  hand  some  which  excite  a  little  opposition.  He  has  rightly 
taught  that  all  our  good  deeds  are  to  be  referred  to  God  and  nothing 
is  to  be  attributed  to  our  own  will  except  wickedness.  .  .  .  But 
in  this  matter  of  indulgences  .  .  .  Luther,  more  bold  than 
felicitous,  hastened  to  cut  the  Gordian  knot.  .  .  .  What  Luther 
has  sown  abroad  about  penitence  and  faith  I  regard  as  most  salutary. 
Nevertheless,  there  run  through  the  teachings  of  Luther 
blemishes  which  affect  me  painfully.  .  .  .  Finally  Luther  has 
brought  out  in  his  latest  little  book  some  things  which  he  regards  as 
proved,  as  that  the  pope  is  not  by  divine  right  universal  bishop. 
How  much  this  displeases  me  I  cannot  express.  .  ,  .  Oh,  that 
there  were  some  upright  one  who  would  influence  Luthernot  to  be 
so  violent  but  to  have  regard  for  the  modesty  which  he  everywhere 
praises,  that  he  mingle  not  dross  with  his  gold  "  (vii.,  92  sqq.). 

December  17.  From  Johann  Faber,  Constance:  "You  shall 
know  at  an  early  date  what  I  think  in  the  matter  of  Carlstadt  and 
Luther.  When  I  have  completed  this  piece  of  work  I  will  take  care 
that  you  see  it  as  soon  as  possible  "  (vii.,  loi).  [Zwingli  did  not 
want  to  receive  it ;  cf.,  vii.,  116.] 

December  28.  From  Myconius,  Lucerne  :  "  There  has  come  into 
my  hands  through  a  Dominican  monk  an  epitome  of  the  discussion 
of  Luther  with  Eck.  I  should  have  sent  this  to  you  if  I  had  been 
sure  that  you  did  not  have  it.  This  is  written  by  Luther  himself,  so 
that  I  have  as  much  confidence  in  its  accuracy  as  if  I  had  been 
present  and  heard  all  "  (vii.,  102). 

December  31.  Zwingli  to  Myconius  :  "  I  have  that  epitome 
[relating  to  the  Leipzig  Disputation  ;  see  above]  of  Luther,  have  read 
it,  approved  of  it,  and  hope  that  Eck  in  following  that  elusive  little 
wind  of  glory  will  throw  away  his  labour  "  (vii.,  104). 


CHAPTER  V 

PREPARING   FOR   THE   REFORMATION 
152O-1521 

IT  IS  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  so  many  of 
Zwingli's  letters  have  perished.  Several  of  those 
received  by  him  contain  directions  for  their  immedi- 
ate destruction  after  reading,  and  perhaps  he  may 
have  made  such  a  request  himself  in  some  cases;  but 
it  is  improbable  that  the  carrying  out  of  such  direc- 
tions wholly  accounts  for  the  deplorable  loss.  The 
printed  correspondence  of  1520  and  1521,  just  the 
years  when  it  would  be  particularly  desirable  to 
know  Zwingli's  own  views  and  plans,  consists  almost 
entirely  of  answers  to  letters  from  him,  mostly  lost, 
or  of  letters  asking  him  to  write,  or  reproaching  him 
for  not  writing.  Still  the  preserved  letters  from  and 
to  him  are  valuable.  They  show  that  he  was  the 
cynosure  of  a  brilliant  circle  of  young  men  who 
praise  to  the  skies,  yet  with  apparent  honesty,  his 
learning,  kindness,  devotion  to  "preaching  Christ," 
and  his  disinterested  readiness  to  use  his  influence 
to  advance  the  fortunes  of  his  friends.  His  own 
letters — alas !  only  fifteen  for  these  two  years — occa- 
sionally touch  a  deeper  note  and  bring  out  more  of 
the  music  of  the  Spirit  than  in  former  years.  But 
they  do  not  show  that  his  serious  illness  had  made  a 
turning-point  in  his  life,  as  has  often  been  imagined. 

144 


i52ij     Preparing  for  the  Reformation     145 

The  new  life  of  Zwingli  dates  rather  from  the  death 
of  his  brother  Andrew,  a  youth  of  rare  promise  and 
tenderly  beloved/  November  i8,  1520. 

Several  letters  are  to  Myconius,  full  of  brotherly 
sympathy  with  that  simple-minded  man  in  his  trials 
for  the  sake  of  the  Gospel,  and  helpful  to  him  in  his 
study  of  the  Scriptures.  Writing  to  Vadianus, 
Zwingli  speaks  thus  of  Hus's  book  "  On  the 
Church  "  :  "  So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  take  a 
taste  of  a  page  here  and  there  it  seems  to  me  to  be 
not  unlearned,  but  the  work  of  a  man  who  is  some- 
what ahead  of  his  age  in  erudition. "  "  Luther  comes 
in  for  frequent  mention.  In  Germany,  Switzerland, 
and  France  he  was  evidently  making  a  great  sensa- 
tion. His  debate  with  Eck  at  Leipzig,  his  excom- 
munication, his  appearance  at  Worms,  his  friendly 
capture,  are  all  alluded  to  in  the  correspondence.^ 

Zwingli  made  a  visit  to  Basel  early  in  1520,  and 
again  about  a  year  afterwards,  when  he  met  Erasmus 
there  again.* 

The  letters  also  show  how  haphazard  epistolary 
intercourse  between  individuals  was  in  those  days, 
being   dependent    upon    couriers,    or   special    mes- 


'  See  pp.  64  sqq. 

*VII.,  138.  Rather  patronising.  Hus's  book  is  now  known  to 
be  a  translation  from  Wyclif.  See  Loserth,  English  translation, 
Wiclif  atid Hits  (London,  1884),  pp.  181  sqq. 

^  Thus  Martin  Butzer  writes  from  Worms  on  May  22,  1521  (vii., 
174),  Luther  having  been  taken  to  the  Wartburg  on  May  2,  1521  : 
"You  know,  I  suppose,  that  Luther  has  been  captured,  but  unless  I 
am  very  much  mistaken  not  by  his  foes.  The  matter  is  admirably 
concealed,  as  is  very  proper." 

•»VIL,  iq2,  195,  196.     Cf.  this  book,  p.  78. 


146  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1520^ 

sengers,  or  passing  friends;  and  how  in  disturbed 
times  communication  well-nigh  ceased.  They  also 
show  that  Zwingli  was  rapidly  becoming  a  force  to 
be  reckoned  with,  for  although  his  preaching  of  a 
common-sense  Gospel  was  awakening  opposition,  it 
was  winning  friends  every  day.  The  opposition 
came  chiefly  from  the  inmates  of  the  three  monas- 
teries in  the  city, — the  Dominican,  the  Franciscan, 
and  the  Augustinian, — for  the  monks  were  naturally 
the  determined  foes  to  all  change  in  theology  and 
fanatically  attached  to  what  they  believed  to  be  in- 
spired and  necessary  ceremonies.  They  had  a  certain 
measure  of  support,  as  the  conservative  party  always 
has,  and  as  they  could  wield  the  ecclesiastical  ma- 
chinery of  the  Church  they  were  formidable,  and 
the  friends  of  Zwingli  were  alarmed  for  his  safety. 
Zwingli  gives  this  calm  view  of  his  situation  in  a 
letter  to  Myconius,  dated  December  31,  15 19: 

"  As  to  that  base  herd  of  Anti-christs  accusing  me  first 
of  imprudence  and  then  of  impudence,  you  ought  to  hear 
that  quietly,  for  now  I  begin  not  to  be  [the  only]  heretic 
though  they  meanwhile  are  boldly,  not  to  say  lyingly, 
asserting  it.  For  I  am  not  alone:  at  Zurich  there  are  more 
than  two  thousand  rational  souls,  who,  now  feeding  on 
spiritual  milk,  will  soon  take  solid  food,  while  those  others 
are  miserably  starving.  As  to  their  assertion  that  my  doc- 
trine (it  is  Christ's  not  mine)  is  of  the  Devil,  that  is  all 
right.  For  in  this  assertion  I  recognise  the  doctrine  of 
Christ  and  myself  as  its  true  herald.  So  the  Pharisees 
declared  that  Christ  had  a  Devil,  and  that  they  were  in 
the  right."  ' 

•VII.,  104. 


I52I]     Preparing  for  the  Reformation     147 

And  that  he  really  was  on  the  winning  side  appears 
from  the  order  of  the  Council  of  the  city,  early  in 
1520,  that  all  preachers  in  the  canton  should  preach 
only  what  they  could  prove  from  the  Word  of  God, 
and  leave  alone  the  doctrines  and  ordinances  not  so 
provable.'  This  order  still  more  excited  the  monks, 
for  it  showed  they  could  not  count  upon  the  civil 
power  in  Zurich. 

In  another  earnest  letter  to  Myconius,  dated  July 
24,  1520,'  Zwingli  speaks  of  the  hopes  and  fears  of 
the  Gospel.  At  one  time  there  seemed  every  like- 
lihood that  the  Gospel  would  flourish,  so  many  good 
men  and  learned  men  were  labouring  to  bring  this 
about,  but  opposition  arose.  He  was  inclined  per- 
sonally to  make  light  of  these  attacks.  "  We  shall 
never  lack  those  who  persecute  Christ  in  us,  even 
though  they  proudly  attack  us  in  the  name  of 
Christ."  The  opposition  was  given  an  opportunity 
to  show  the  genuineness  of  their  zeal.  "  Is  this 
not  the  fire  that  proves  the  character  of  each  man's 
work,  whether  he  goes  into  battle  for  the  honour  of 
this  world  or  of  Christ  ?  .  .  .  I  believe  that  the 
Church,  as  it  was  brought  forth  in  blood,  so  can  be 
restored  by  blood  and  in  no  other  way."  Luther 
was  the  protagonist  of  the  fight  he  and  other  friends 
of  light  and  learning  and  Bible  truth  were  waging.' 
Of  Luther  Zwingli  says:  "  I  fear  very  little  for  the 
life  of  Luther,  not  at  all  for  his  courage,  even  if  the 


'  Bullinger,  i.,  32. 
»VII.,  142^^.7. 

^  Luther's  condemnation  by  the  theologians  of  Louvain,  Cologne, 
and  Paris  comes  in  for  mention  in  this  correspondence  (vii.,  12 1,  I2g). 


148  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1520- 

bolt  of  that  Jupiter  [the  Bull  of  excommunication 
by  the  Pope]  be  launched  against  him."  Then 
follow  these  specially  interesting  sentences,  showing 
Zwingli's  friendly  footing  with  the  hierarchy  in  Swit- 
zerland, and  his  own  cheerful  courage : 

"  Within  a  few  days  I  will  go  to  the  papal  Legate 
[Pucci],  and  if  he  shall  open  a  conversation  on  the  sub- 
ject as  he  did  before,  I  will  urge  him  to  warn  the  Pope 
not  to  issue  an  excommunication  [against  Luther],  which 
I  think  would  be  greatly  against  him  [the  Pope].  For  if 
it  be  issued  I  believe  the  Germans  will  equally  despise 
the  Pope  and  the  excommunication.'  But  do  you  be  of 
good  cheer,  for  our  day  will  not  lack  those  who  will  teach 
Christ  faithfully,  and  who  will  give  up  their  lives  for  Him 
willingly,  even  though  among  men  their  names  shall  not 
be  in  good  repute  after  this  life.  ...  So  far  as  I  am 
concerned  I  look  for  all  evil  from  all  of  them:  I  mean 
both  ecclesiastics  and  laymen.  I  beseech  Christ  for  this 
one  thing  only,  that  He  will  enable  me  to  endure  all 
things  courageously,  and  that  He  break  me  as  a  potter's 
vessel  or  make  me  strong,  as  it  pleases  Him.  If  I  be 
excommunicated  "^  I  shall  think  of  the  learned  and  holy 

'  Unknown  to  Zwingli  the  Bull  of  excommunication  had  been 
issued  by  the  Pope,  Leo  X.,  on  June  15,  1520.  It  did  not  reach 
Switzerland  until  July,  and  Zwingli,  through  his  influence  with 
William  a  Falconibus,  secretary  to  the  papal  Legate,  Anthony  Pucci, 
and  with  the  Bishop  of  Constance,  delayed  the  official  deliverance 
in  Zurich  until  October.  It  was  October  before  it  reached  Witten- 
berg. On  October  15th  it  was  only  a  rumour  in  Mainz  (vii.,  148), 
but  on  December  2ist  the  writings  of  Luther  were  burned  there 
(vii.,  157).  A  complete  English  translation  of  this  Bull  was  made 
by  Rev.  Dr.  H.  E.  Jacobs  and  appears  in  his  life  of  Luther  in  this 
series,  pp.  413-435. 

^  So  this  was  his  apprehension  in  consequence  of  his  well-known  sup- 
port of  doctrines  precisely  similar  to  Luther's  and  so  classed  as  Lutheran. 


I52I]     Preparing  for  the  Reformation     149 

Hilary,  who  was  exiled  from  France  to  Africa,'  and  of 
Lucius,  who  though  driven  from  his  seat  at  Rome  re- 
turned again  with  great  honour.^  Not  that  I  compare 
myself  with  them:  for  as  they  were  better  than  I  so  they 
suffered  what  was  a  greater  ignominy.  And  yet  if  it 
were  good  to  glory  I  would  rejoice  to  suffer  insult  for  the 
name  of  Christ.  But  let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth 
take  heed  lest  he  fall.  Lately  I  have  read  scarcely  any- 
thing of  Luther's;  but  what  I  have  seen  of  his  hitherto 
does  not  seem  to  me  to  stray  from  gospel  teaching. 
You  know  —  if  you  remember  —  that  what  I  have  always 
spoken  of  in  terms  of  the  highest  commendation  in  him 
is  that  he  supports  his  position  with  authoritative  wit- 
nesses." ' 

In  the  conclusion  of  this  interesting  letter  he  tells 
his  friend  of  his  intention  to  resume  the  study  of 
Hebrew, — which  he  had  begun  at  Einsiedeln, — and 
so  he  had  ordered  from  Basel  the  Rudiments  of 
Capnio,  as  he  styles  him  who  is  better  known  now  as 
Reuchlin,  the  famous  Humanist.*     But  he  had  made 

'  Bishop  of  Poitiers,  353-368  ;  banished  to  Phrygia,  356;  returned 
364. 

'  Bishop  of  Rome,  253-254,  banished  almost  immediately  upon 
his  election,  but  soon  returned. 

^  Zwingli  is  here,  as  always,  the  critic,  not  the  follower,  of  Luther, 
and  as  he  came  to  the  same  positions  simultaneously  or  perhaps 
previously,  at  all  events  independently,  it  was  wrong  ever  to  dub 
him  with  the  name  of  Luther,  and  he  resented  it.  See  his  remarks 
in  his  exposition  of  the  Articles  of  1523,  i.,  253  sqq. 

*  De  rudiiiicntis  Hehraicis  was  printed  at  Reuchlin's  expense  by 
Thomas  Anselm  at  Pforzheim,  sixteen  miles  north-east  of  Carlsruhe, 
in  1506,  and  the  entire  edition  was  sold  to  Amerbach  at  the  rate  of 
three  copies  for  one  gulden.  It  was,  however,  a  very  slow  seller.  See 
G.  H.  Putnam,  Books  and  their  Makers  in  the  Middle  Ages  (N.  Y., 
1897),  ii.,  172. 


150  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1520- 

a  similar  start  in  15 19,'  and  this  time  again  he  prob- 
ably did  not  make  much  progress,  for  on  March  25, 
1522,  he  writes  to  Rhenanus:  "  Tell  Pellican  that  I 
have  begun  Hebrew.  Ye  gods,  how  distasteful  and 
melancholy  a  study!  But  I  shall  persist  until  I  get 
something  out  of  it."  "  Another  interesting  letter, 
in  which  he  expresses  his  profound  Christian  faith, 
and  shows  that  he  had  in  the  school  of  sorrow  over 
his  brother,  and  of  anxiety  over  personal  affairs, 
learned  the  lesson  of  faith  and  dependence  on  God, 
is  that  to  Haller.' 

The  relations  between  the  Pope  and  the  Swiss  was 
a  very  live  topic  in  Zwingli's  day.  The  Cardinal  of 
Sitten,  Ennius,  Pucci,  and  high  members  of  the 
papal  party  endeavoured  to  secure  mercenaries  from 
Zurich.  Zwingli  preached  against  the  business,^  but 
at  first  he  was  not  heeded.  At  last  the  pitiful  treat- 
ment the  Zurich  contingent  received  convinced 
Zurich  that  the  Pope  was  not  a  more  desirable  mas- 
ter than  any  other  prince,  and  that  his  battles  were 
not  a  whit  holier,  and  so  in  1522  Zurich  withdrew 
from  the  mercenary  business  altogether,  and  en- 
deavoured to  dissuade  the  other  cantons  from  con- 
tinuing in  it. 

The  margins  of  Zwingli's  books  are  covered  with 
annotations.     These  have  been  deciphered  as  far  as 


'  See  p.  135. 

*  VII.,  194.     The  helps  to  this  study  were  then  very  meagre,  more 
so  than  for  Greek.  ^ 

3  VII.,  185.  , 

*  See  the  summary  of   his  sermons  from    BuUinger   in   Zwingh's 
lVo7-ks,  ii.,  2,  350-352,  already  translated  in  this  volume,  j^p.  136-139, 


i52i]     Preparing  for  the  Reformation     151 

possible,  and  the  claim  is  made,  on  the  strength  of 
these  decipherments,  that  after  15 19  he  adopted 
Lutheran  views  upon  sin  and  grace.' 

In  the  early  part  of  1521,  Zwingli  was  sick  with  a 
fever."  That  summer  he  went  to  Urdorf,  seven  and 
a  half  miles  west  from  Zurich,  then  a  popular  resort.* 

He  was  neither  a  member  of  the  chapter  of  the 
cathedral  nor  a  citizen  of  the  Republic  of  Zurich 
until,  on  April  29,  1521,  he  succeeded  Dr.  Heinrich 
Engelhard  as  canon  of  the  Great  Minster,  which 
position  carried  citizenship  with  it.  Thereby  he 
increased  his  income  by  seventy  gulden,  and  this 
made  up  for  the  loss  of  the  papal  pension  of  fifty 
gulden,  which  he  had  renounced  in  1520.*  He  re- 
ceived the  hearty  congratulations  of  his  friends  on 
his  advancement.  The  action  ^  was  a  proof  of  rare 
friendship  on  Engelhard's  part. 

'  This  tedious  and  difficult  labour  was  performed  by  Usteri  with 
great  patience  and  skill.  See  Usteri,  "  Initia  Zwinglii,"  in  Theolo- 
gische  Studien  und  Kritiken  (Gotha,  1885,  4th  part,  pp.  607-672; 
1886,  1st  part,  pp.  95-159  ;  also  separately  reprinted). 

"  Suppl.,  p.  30. 

3  VII.,  181. 

■•  See  pp.  114  sqq, 

^VII.,  175,  182.  The  following  is  the  text  of  the  appointment, 
translated  from  the  original  Latin  as  given  in  Egli,  Analecta  Refot^- 
malaria,  i.,  22-24  : 

"  Appointment  0/  the  People's  Priest  Master  Huldreich  Zwingli 
to  be  Canon  at  the  Grossmuenster  in  Zurich,  April  2q,  1^21. 
"  In  the  name  of  the  Lord,  Amen. 

"  In  the  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-first  year  from 
the  birth  of  the  same  Lord,  and  the  ninth  indiction,  upon  Monday, 
the  twenty-ninth  of  April,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  or  there- 
abouts, in  the  ninth  year  of  the  pontificate  of  our  Most  Holy  Father 
and  Lord  in  Christ,  Leo  X.,   by  divine  providence   Pope,   in  the 


152  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1520- 

So  far  he  had  not  published  anything.  He  had, 
however,  written  two  political  pamphlets  in  15 19, 
one  on  the  avarice  of  the  Pope  and  the  cardinals, 
and  the  other  a  dialogue  on  the  plague,'  which  had 
the   approval    of   the    learned    except    that   it   was 


chapter  chamber  of  the  church  of  the  Holy  Martyrs  Felix  and 
Regula  at  Zurich,  diocese  of  Constance  and  province  of  Mainz, 
personally  appeared  before  me  as  notary  public,  in  presence  of  the 
witnesses  named  below,  my  eminent,  noble,  worshipful,  and  wise 
lords,  the  provost  and  capitulary  canons  of  the  said  provostship  of 
Zurich  in  chapter  assembled  and  convened,  holding  session  and 
forming  the  party  of  the  first  part,  and  the  worshipful  gentleman 
Domine  Huldreich  Zwingli,  Master  of  Arts,  occupying  the  post  of 
people's  priest  in  the  said  church  and  provostship,  party  of  the 
second  part.  Said  Domine  Master  Zwingli  made  humble  petition 
to  the  said  honourable  provost  and  chapter  that  they  would  deign 
faithfully  before  God  to  bestow  upon  him  the  post  of  canon  and  pre- 
bendary in  their  church,  lying  vacant  at  present  in  the  hands  of  said 
honourable  provost  and  chapter  of  the  provostship  of  Zurich  (through 
the  voluntary  resignation  of  the  eminent  gentleman.  Master  Heinrich 
Engelhard,  Doctor  of  Decrees,  canon  and  prebendary  of  the  abbey 
of  Zurich  and  legal  possessor  of  the  post  of  canon  and  prebendary 
aforesaid  in  our  church).  Said  honourable  provost  and  chapter  there- 
fore have,  after  mature  deliberation,  in  the  name  of  God,  bestowed 
and  conferred  upon  said  Master  Huldreich  Zwingli,  with  all  possible 
binding  force  and  process  of  law,  said  post  of  canon  and  prebendary, 
vacant  as  aforesaid  through  voluntary  resignation,  together  with  full 
canonical  rights  and  all  rights  and  privileges  thereto  pertaining,  and 
have  admitted  him  into  the  post  of  canon  and  prebendary  aforesaid, 
and  received  and  accepted  him  as  brotlier  and  fellow-canon,  and  said 
honourable  Master  Huldreich  Zwingli,  having  solemnly  sworn  upon 
the  Holy  Gospel,  with  his  hand  upon  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  to  ob- 
serve the  statute  beginning  '  These  are  the  articles,  etc.',  read  aloud 
to  him  phrase  by  phrase  by  me  as  notary,  as  also  the  other  statutes 
and  usages  of  said  church  of  the  provostship  of  Zurich,  said  honour- 
able provost,  whose  function  it  is  recognised  to  be  to  induct  the 
canons  into  their  office,  presently  gave  and  assigned  to  said  Master 
'  VII..  104. 


I52I]     Preparing  for  the  Reformation     153 

thought  to  be  too  bitter;  and  in  1521  he  speaks  of 
preparing  for  the  press  some  sermons  on  faith  and 
on  saint  worship.'  In  a  letter  to  Mycojiius  dated 
May  17,  1 52 1,  he  thus  tells  of  his  connection  with 
a  publication : 


Uuldreich  Zwingli  a  place  in  the  chapter,  and  then  the  worshipful  and 
wise  Master  George  Heggentzi,  custodian  and  senior  canon  of  the 
aforesaid  provostship,  in  the  name  of  said  honourable  provost,  led  the 
same  Master  Zwingli  into  the  choir,  and  gave  and  assigned  to  him  a 
seat  in  the  same  with  full  canonical  rights,  thus  sending,  putting,  and 
introducing  the  same  Master  Huldreich  into  material,  real,  and 
actual  possession,  as  it  were,  of  said  post  of  canon  and  prebendary, 
and  completely  furnishing  Master  Huldreich  Zwingli  thus  inducted 
with  all  requisite  information  in  regard  to  all  the  fruits  and  revenues, 
returns,  rights,  and  income  of  the  post  of  canon  and  prebendary,  ob- 
serving the  due  and  usual  ceremonies  and  cautions,  in  respect  to  all 
of  which  as  aforesaid  the  said  honourable  Master  Huldreich  Zwingli 
begged  me,  the  undersigned  notary  public,  to  prepare  for  him  all 
the  necessary  public  documents  in  presence  of  the  honourable  gentle- 
men, Masters  Caspar  Mantz  and  Johann  Murer,  presbyters  and 
chaplains  of  said  church  of  the  provostship  of  Zurich,  especially 
invited  and  requested  to  attend  the  proceedings. 

"I,  Johann  Widmer,  presbyter  of  the  diocese  of  Constance, 
chaplain  of  the  church  of  the  Holy  Martyrs  Felix  and  Regula  in  the 
provostship  of  Zurich,  notary  public  by  authority  of  the  Holy  Em- 
pire, and  sworn  clerk  of  my  eminent,  noble,  wise,  and  worshipful 
canonical  lords,  the  provost  and  chapter  of  the  said  provostship, 
having  been  present  with  the  before  named  witnesses  at  the  petition, 
appointment,  admission,  reception,  acceptance,  oath-taking,  induct- 
ing, installation,  and  all  and  each  of  the  aforesaid  proceedings,  and 
having  seen  and  heard  them  done  and  accomplished  as  aforesaid, 
have,  tlierefore,  prepared  this  present  public  document,  and  written 
it  with  my  own  hand,  and  signed  and  sealed  it  with  my  regular  and 
proper  seal  and  name  in  witness,  confirmation,  and  testimony  of  all 
above  written,  as  requested,  bidden,  and  specially  summoned  to  do." 

'  VII.,  187  ;  cf.  189.  They  were  never  published.  The  latter 
topic  he  debated  with  Lambert  in  1522.     See  p  170, 


154  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1520- 

"  The  argumentative  poem  on  The  Mill  (which  appears 
on  the  first  sheet  of  paper  enclosed)  was  put  into  shape 
and  sent  to  me  by  a  certain  Rhaetian,'  a  layman  who  is 
very  learned  in  the  Scriptures,  for  one  unacquainted  with 
Latin.  He  is  Martin  Saenger.  I  indeed  having  examined 
the  argument  thought  that  what  he  had  rather  infelici- 
tously  applied  to  Luther  was  more  properly  applied  to 
Christ  and  God.  But  since  I  had  not  leisure  sufficient 
to  put  measures  together,  I  turned  the  poem  itself  over 
to  Johann  Fuessli,  that  somewhat  deaf  master  metal- 
founder,  who  lives  in  the  village  of  Rennweg."  He  is  the 
man  (that  you  may  know  exactly  who  he  is)  who  used  to 
stand  on  my  left  as  I  preached  from  the  pulpit;  and  you 
will  notice  that  he  has  used  some  of  my  own  words  which 
he  has  caught  up  and  imitated  (as  often  happens)  be- 
cause of  his  frequent  listening  to  my  discourses.  He 
made  all  the  measures  in  words  indeed  which  some 
wanted  to  quote  to  carry  their  point  that  the  work  was 
mine,  until  I  admonished  the  man  that  he  should  suffer 
the  thing  to  be  known  as  his  own  work,  for  there  was 
no  peril  to  fear  from  our  people.  Still  I  did  this — I 
showed  him  many  places  in  Scripture  which  he  diligently 
studied,  and  he  prepared  the  framework  in  my  company. 
I  was  greatly  pleased  at  the  simplicity  and  clearness  of 
his  discourse,  nay,  he  brought  it  about  that  his  speech 
should  be  really  Swiss,  so  that  it  was  thrown  off  with 

The  seal  of  the  notary  was  a  shield  divided  diagonally  from  left  to 
right,  upon  a  short  tree,  the  lower  field  black,  the  upper  yellow,  with 
a  black  lion  rampant  facing  towards  the  left.  Under  this  in  two 
lines,  between  ruled  lines;  "  Johannis  Widmer  presbiteri  de  Thurego 
auctoritate  imperiali  notarii  publici "  ([seal]  "of  John  Widmer, 
presbyter  of  Zurich,  notary  public  by  imperial  authority)". 

'  An  inhabitant  of  the  Swiss  canton  Grisons. 

"  This  was  the  name  given  to  a  hamlet  by  Bubikon,  twenty-one 
miles  south-east  of  Zurich  on  the  north  shore  of  the  Lake  of  Zurich. 


i52ii     Preparing  for  the  Reformation     155 

great  swiftness  but  needing  correction.  I  fixed  the  form 
of  it  with  him  and  the  first  measure,  and  I  made  the  title 
—  but  besides  this  I  did  nothing." 

The  piece  was  finally  published  anonymously.' 

In  the  latter  half  of  1520,  at  all  events,  as  the 
contents  show,  before  the  coronation  of  Charles  V., 
which  took  place  on  October  22nd,  there  appeared 
anonymously,  and  without  date  or  place  of  publica- 
tion, a  Latin  pamphlet  entitled,  '  *  Advice  of  one  who 
desires  with  his  whole  heart  that  due  consideration 
be  paid  both  to  the  dignity  of  the  pope  and  to  the 
peaceful  development  of  the  Christian  religion."  '  It 
has  an  extraordinary  Appendix,  being  nothing  less 
than  "  A  defence  of  Martin  Luther  by  Christ  our 
Lord,  addressed  to  the  city  of  Rome."  Although  at 
first  sight  it  seems  highly  improbable  that  Zwingli 
had  anything  to  do  with  the  pamphlet,  as  it  is  not  at 
all  in  his  style,  yet  all  doubt  vanishes  before  the  fact 
that  the  draft  of  it  in  Zwingli's  handwriting  is  to 
be  seen  to-day  in  the  Zurich  cantonal  archives.  It 
treats  Luther  in  a  kindly,  condescending  way,  and 
advises  that  an  impartial  commission  go  through  his 
books  and  also  examine  him  orally,  and  then  pass 
final  judgment  upon  him.  As  an  alternative  plan  a 
General  Council  might  be  called.  The  "  Defence  " 
is  a  terrible  arraignment  of  the  Roman  bishop  in 


'  It  is  reprinted  in  Oscar  Schade's  Satiren  und  PasquilU  aus  der 
Reformalionszeit,  2nd  edition,  Hanover,  1863,  i.,  19-26. 

*  III.,  1-6  ;  cf.  allusion  to  it  in  his  address  to  the  German  princes 
(iii.,  78).  See  the  discussion  of  its  authorship  by  G.  Finsler  in 
Zwingliana,  1899,  No.  2,  pp.  I13-115. 


15^  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1520- 

proof  that  Luther  spoke  only  the  truth  about  the 
Church. 

Perhaps  the  subject  which  may  be  said  to  be  that 
which  first  introduced  the  Reformation  into  Zurich 
was  that  of  tithes.  Zwingli  declared  that  they  were 
not  of  divine  authority,  and  that  their  payment 
should  be  voluntary.  But  as  tithes  were  an  import- 
ant part  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenue,  he  was  striking 
a  serious  blow  at  the  further  maintenance  of  the 
cathedral.  No  wonder  that  his  brother  clergy  were 
alarmed.  They  knew  all  too  well  that  voluntary 
payments  of  tithes  or  of  any  other  moneys  were  sure 
to  be  small.  It  requires  long  education  before  wor- 
shippers will  voluntarily  support  religion.  Writing 
to  Myconius  on  February  i6,  1520,  Zwingli  thus 
alludes  to  the  stir  his  teaching  had  caused: 

"  Our  provost  has  poured  forth  some  venomous  stuff 
which  he  has  committed  to  permanent  form  so  that  it 
might  be  retained.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  me  in  which  he 
said  that  tithes  were  of  divine  right.  I  had  controverted 
this  publicly,  in  Latin,  however,  not  in  German.  Like- 
wise he  informs  me  that  the  truth  is  not  to  be  spoken 
at  all  times,  doubtless  thinking  that  nothing  evil  ought 
to  be  said  against  the  priests.  He  pleads  from  the 
market-place  that  I  should  not  furnish  arms  to  laymen 
to  use  against  the  clergy."  ' 

The  next  step  in  the  advance  towards  the  Re- 
formation  in  Zurich  was  the  simplification  of  the 


'  VII.,  116  sq.  On  March  17,  1520,  Iledio,  in  Basel,  promises  to 
send  him  a  tract  by  Gabriel  on  tithes  (vii.,  121,  132).  Probably 
Gabriel  Biel  is  meant. 


I52I]    Preparing  for  the  Rerormation     157 

breviary  as  used  in  the  cathedral.  This  went  into 
effect  on  June  27,  15-20.  Those  of  the  clergy  that 
adhered  to  the  regular  church  forms  and  the  con- 
servative people  generally  Avere  disturbed,  and  the 
Little  Council,  which  was  a  very  conservative  body, 
alarmed  at  the  radicalism  which  was  fomented  by 
Zwingli,  passed  a  vaguely  worded  resolution  against 
"novelties  and  human  inventions"  in  preaching, 
which  was  aimed  at  him.  A  little  later  he  again 
manifested  his  independent  and  reforming  spirit  by 
criticising  the  department  of  outdoor  relief  in  the 
city,  and  proposing  on  September  8,  1520,  that  the 
public  alms  should  hereafter  be  given  only  to  those 
who  had  been  investigated,  and  could  show  actual 
need.  One  test  of  the  "  worthiness  "  of  the  appli- 
cants for  relief  was  their  ability  to  repeat  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  the  Ave  Maria,  and  the  Ten  Command- 
ments! ' 


•  Egli,  Actensamtnlung,  No.  132,  pp.  25-31. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   REFORMATION   BEGINS 
1522 

THE  year  1522  is  that  in  which  the  Reformation 
began  in  Zurich. 
The  course  of  ZwingH's  development  to  preach 
such  an  intellectual  creed  as  that  of  Protestantism 
can  be  traced  He  came  of  a  very  intelligent  family 
on  both  sides,  and  was  so  uncommonly  bright  as  a 
child  that  the  propriety  of  educating  him  was  mani- 
fest. In  the  providence  of  God  that  education  was 
from  the  start  at  the  direction  of  his  father's  brother, 
who  had  progressive  ideas ;  and  as  the  same  uncle 
kept  him  from  the  baleful  influences  of  monasticism, 
he  came  to  early  manhood  a  cultured  Humanist  and 
not  a  monk  or  a  hidebound  scholastic  or  a  fanatical 
ignoramus.  His  first  charge  was  such  an  important 
one  that  he  at  once  had  to  exert  himself,  while  his 
scholarly  ambition  incited  him  to  diligent  use  of 
every  opportunity  to  increase  his  learning.  As  a 
very  important  factor  he  learned  Greek,  and  this 
enabled  him  to  go  to  the  sources  of  much  informa- 
tion which  in  a  more  or  less  imperfect  form  had 
been  brought  to  his  attention  in  Latin  translation. 
Being  a  Humanist,  he  naturally  sought  the  company 
of  Humanists,  and  so  his  contempt   for  mediaeval 

158 


1522]         The  Reformation  Begins  159 

teaching  was  increased,  and  under  the  instruction 
of  the  great  prince  among  Humanists,  Erasmus,  he 
came  to  common-sense  views  in  theology  and  know- 
ledge of  monastic  arrogance  and  ignorance.  Being 
also  an  ardent  Swiss,  he  deprecated  whatever  tended 
to  deteriorate  the  Swiss  character,  chief  of  which 
bad  influences  was  the  mercenary  trafific,  and  being 
a  bold  man  and  believing  that  the  pulpit  was  just 
the  place  to  discuss  public  questions,  especially  such 
as  had  a  moral  bearing,  he  preached  against  the 
practice.  This  stirred  up  so  much  opposition  in 
Glarus,  which  was  quite  a  centre  of  the  business  of 
hiring  mercenaries,  that  he  was  compelled  to  seek 
another  place.  Impressed  on  a  visit  with  the  ad- 
vantages in  the  way  of  study  and  acquaintance  of 
Einsiedeln,  he  applied  for  a  position  there,  and  was 
successful.  There  an  ample  library  was  at  his  serv- 
ice ;  there  he  revelled  in  literary  and  distinguished 
society,  and  there  he  came  in  touch  with  leaders  of 
many  lands,  so  that  the  misfortunes  which  drove 
him  to  seek  refuge  there  were  really  fortunes  of 
inestimable  worth. 

A  broad-minded,  highly  educated,  independent, 
thoughtful,  determined  man,  and  withal  turned  in 
the  direction  of  ecclesiastical  freedom,  he  came  to 
Zurich.  There  he  played  from  the  beginning  an 
important  part,  with  increased  independence.  The 
Scriptures  became  of  more  and  more  account  and  the 
Fathers  and  the  Schoolmen  of  less.  It  was  but  a 
step  from  the  placing  of  the  latter  among  fallible 
teachers  to  take  the  position  that  only  what  the 
Scriptures   demanded    should  be  demanded.      But 


i6o  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1522 

where  had  the  Scriptures  demanded  the  payment  of 
tithes,  and  where  fasting  in  Lent  ?  Where  did  Lent 
come  in,  anyway  ?  So  with  many  other  ceremonies 
and  observances  of  the  Church.  And  these  doubts 
and  questions  he  brought  to  the  attention  of  his 
congregation.  His  conduct  in  doing  so  was  the 
subject  of  passionate  complaint  by  Canon  Konrad 
Hofmann,  in  December,  1521,  to  the  chapter  of  the 
Grossmiinster.' 

Ash  Wednesday,  the  first  day  of  Lent,  came  in 
the  year  1522  on  the  5th  of  March.  It  was  later 
noised  through  the  city  that  some  of  his  congrega- 
tion had  made  appHcation  of  his  teaching  respecting 
fasting  during  the  forty  days  in  the  direction  of  open 
violation  of  the  enjoined  fast.  They  declared  that 
if  it  was  not  required  by  Scripture,  they  would  not 
fast.  Such  conduct  quickly  brought  them  in  con- 
tact with  the  civil  authority,  which  was  the  servant 
of  the  Church.*  Best  known  of  these  bold  innov- 
ators was  Christopher  Froschauer,  Zurich's  great 
printer,  who  ate  meat  with  his  workmen  on  the  plea 
that  an  unusually  heavy  press  of  work  compelled 
them  to  take  nourishing  food ! ' 

Zwingli  did  not  himself  offend,  but  he  assumed 


'  See  Egli,  Actensamtnhing,  No.  213. 

'  Disputes  about  the  matter  led  to  street  fighting,  cf.  Egli,  Acten- 
sammlung.  No.  232,  trials  of  the  offenders,  ibid.,  233. 

^  Defence  of  Froschauer  before  the  City  Council,  Egli,  AcUn- 
sammlung.  No.  234.  On  April  27th  a  friend  informed  Zwingli  that 
some  priests  at  Basel  ate  a  sucking  pig  on  Palm  Sunday  (vii.,  196). 
The  incident  made  quite  a  stir,  and  perhaps  this  rather  impudent 
exhibition  of  independence  did  more  harm  than  good.  So  thought 
Loriti,  cf.  vii.,  197. 


1522]         The  Reformation  Begins  i6i 

full  responsibility  for  this  conduct  of  his  parishion- 
ers, who  had  before  the  Council  quoted  him  as  their 
authority.  On  March  23d  of  that  year,  1522, 
which  was  the  third  Sunday  in  Lent,'  he  preached 
a  sermon  which  he  published  on  Wednesday,  April 
i6th,  upon  "  Selection  or  Liberty  respecting  Foods; 
on  Offence  and  Scandal ;  whether  there  is  any  Au- 
thority for  forbidding  Meat  at  certain  Times."* 

The  Council  debated  the  matter  of  fasting,  and 
finally  passed  a  compromise  measure  to  the  effect 
that  while  it  is  true  that  the  New  Testament  makes 
no  distinction  among  foods,  yet  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  so  dear  to  Christ,  the  fasting  ordinance  should 
be  obeyed  until  abrogated  or  modified  by  authority, 
and  the  people's  priests  as  pastors  of  the  three  par- 
ishes of  the  city,  namely,  the  Grossmiinster,  the 
Fraumiinster,  and  St.  Peter's,  should  dissuade  the 
people  from  all  violation  of  the  ordinance.^ 

When  the  bruit  of  this  revolt  against  ecclesiastical 
authority  and  of  the  temporising  order  of  the  Coun- 
cil reached  the  Bishop  of  Constance,  he  saw  that  it 
was  high  time  to  do  something  to  restrain  the  wan- 
dering city.  So  he  sent  a  commission  to  investi- 
gate. Zwingli  gives  in  a  letter  to  Erasmus  Fabricius  * 
a  very  graphic  account  of  the  subsequent  proceed- 
ings, which  is  here  summarised  :  On  Monday,  April 
7th  (1522),  the  commission,  consisting  of  Mel- 
chior  Wattli,   D.D.,  the  suffragan  bishop;  Johann 


'  See  his  statement,  Appendix  to  this  volume,  p.  438. 

*  Given  in  full  in  the  Appendix  to  this  volume,  pp.  404  sqq. 

^Egli,  Actensamvilung,  No.  235. 

MIL,  S-16. 


i62  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1522 

Wanner,  the  cathedral  preacher  of  Constance,  and 
favourable  to  Reformation  ideas  ;  and  Nicholas 
Brendlin,  D.D.,  appeared  in  Zurich.  Early  the 
next  day  they  assembled  the  clergy,  and  the  suf- 
fragan laid  the  episcopal  commands  upon  them  not 
to  depart  from  the  old  order.  He  did  not  mention 
the  name  of  Zwingli  in  his  address,  but  so  plainly 
meant  him  all  along  as  the  cause  of  all  the  trouble 
in  Zurich  that  Zwingli  felt  justified  in  replying  on 
the  spot,  more  particularly  as  he  perceived  "  from 
their  sighs  and  their  pale  and  silent  faces  that  some 
of  the  weaker  priests  who  had  recently  been  won  for 
Christ  had  been  troubled  by  the  tirade."  The 
commission  then  appeared  before  the  Little  Coun- 
cil, and  the  suffragan  delivered  the  same  address, 
again  omitting  purposely  all  mention  of  Zwingli  by 
name.  As  Zwingli  did  not  belong  to  the  Little 
Council,  he  could  not  be  present  at  their  meetings 
without  invitation,  and  none  was  given  him  then. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  suffragan's  address  the 
Little  Council  voted  to  call  a  meeting  the  next  morn- 
ing of  the  Great  Council,  consisting  of  two  hundred 
members,  to  take  action  on  the  bishop's  complaint, 
but  in  the  resolution  it  was  expressly  ordered  that 
the  three  people's  priests  should  be  excluded.  This 
latter  action  Zwingli  was  anxious  to  have  recon- 
sidered and  rescinded.  To  this  end  he  brought  all 
his  influence  to  bear  with  the  members  of  the  body, 
but  in  vain.  He  also  tried  to  win  over  the  com- 
mission itself.  But,  equally  unsuccessful  here,  he 
betook  himself  to  prayer,  and  lo !  the  next  morning 
when  the  Great  Council  met,   Wednesday,   April 


jife;^^-. 


wliich  ZiiingU 
B.     Frau-Muiistcr  (Mi 


which  Engelhard 


t  Minsler),  the  cathedral  of 
1  people's  priest, 
er  of  Our  Lady),  the  cathe- 
iite  side  of   the   Limmat,  of 
tvas  chief. 


.  Peter's  church,  of  which  Leo  Jud  \ 


The  Water  church,  at  present  the  city  library-. 
Octtenlinch  Nunnery,  later  Orphanage  and  churt 
Corn  Exchange. 


1522]         The  Reformation  Begins  163 

9th,  the  people  in  true  democratic  fashion  demanded 
that  their  people's  priests  should  be  admitted,  and 
the  Great  Council  outvoted  the  Little  Council  in 
their  favour,  and  so  Zwingii's  heart's  desire  was 
f^iven  to  him,  and  he  heard  what  was  said  against 
him  before  the  Council.  The  suffragan  a  third  time 
made  his  speech.  This  time  Zwingli  took  notes. 
These  were  some  of  the  points  the  suffragan  made: 
Certain  persons  (unnamed)  were  teaching  new  ob- 
noxious and  seditious  doctrines;  to  wit,  that  no 
human  prescriptions  and  no  ceremonials  ought  to  be 
regarded,  although  they  were  a  guide  to  virtue; 
also  that  Lent  ought  not  to  be  kept.  Consequently 
some  had  eaten  flesh  in  Lent.  Such  conduct  was 
evidently  not  permitted  by  the  Gospels,  the  Fathers, 
nor  the  Councils.  The  antiquity  of  the  custom  of 
fasting  during  Lent  was  a  plain  proof  that  it  was  in- 
spired by  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Council  must  re- 
main with  and  in  the  Church,  for  outside  of  it  was 
no  salvation.  The  objectionable  doctrines  could 
not  be  defended,  as  they  rested  on  no  foundation. 
It  was  the  duty  of  the  people's  priests  to  teach  the 
old  truths.  Moreover,  it  was  obligatory  on  Christ- 
ians to  avoid  giving  offence.  Nor  should  anyone 
trust  his  cum  reason,  but  all  should  hear  the  Church. 
As  the  commission  had  been  charged  to  avoid  de- 
bate, especially  with  Zwingli,  after  the  suffragan 
had  made  his  speech  they  essayed  to  leave.  But 
the  Swiss  sense  of  fairness  prevailed,  and  they  were 
compelled  to  stay  while  Zwingli  made  his  defence, 
which  he  did  at  considerable  length,  taking  up  the 
suffragan's  speech  point  by  point.     Still  even  he  did 


1522]         The  Reformation  Begins  163 

9th,  the  people  in  true  democratic  fashion  demanded 
that  their  people's  priests  should  be  admitted,  and 
the  Great  Council  outvoted  the  Little  Council  in 
their  favour,  and  so  Zwingli's  heart's  desire  was 
given  to  him,  and  he  heard  what  was  said  against 
him  before  the  Council.  The  suffragan  a  third  time 
made  his  speech.  This  time  Zvvingli  took  notes. 
These  were  some  of  the  points  the  suffragan  made: 
Certain  persons  (unnamed)  were  teaching  new  ob- 
noxious and  seditious  doctrines;  to  wit,  that  no 
human  prescriptions  and  no  ceremonials  ought  to  be 
regarded,  although  they  were  a  guide  to  virtue; 
also  that  Lent  ought  not  to  be  kept.  Consequently 
some  had  eaten  flesh  in  Lent.  Such  conduct  was 
evidently  not  permitted  by  the  Gospels,  the  Fathers, 
nor  the  Councils.  The  antiquity  of  the  custom  of 
fasting  during  Lent  was  a  plain  proof  that  it  was  in- 
spired by  the  Holy  Ghost,  The  Council  must  re- 
main with  and  in  the  Church,  for  outside  of  it  was 
no  salvation.  The  objectionable  doctrines  could 
not  be  defended,  as  they  rested  on  no  foundation. 
It  was  the  duty  of  the  people's  priests  to  teach  the 
old  truths.  Moreover,  it  was  obligatory  on  Christ- 
ians to  avoid  giving  offence.  Nor  should  anyone 
trust  his  own  reason,  but  all  should  hear  the  Church. 
As  the  commission  had  been  charged  to  avoid  de- 
bate, especially  with  Zvvingli,  after  the  suffragan 
had  made  his  speech  they  essayed  to  leave.  But 
the  Swiss  sense  of  fairness  prevailed,  and  they  were 
compelled  to  stay  while  Zwingli  made  his  defence, 
which  he  did  at  considerable  length,  taking  up  the 
suffragan's  speech  point  by  point.     Still  even  he  did 


164  Huldreich  Zvvingli  [1522 

not  advise  breaking  abruptly  with  the  Church,  but, 
like  Luther  at  that  time,  told  the  people  to  bide  the 
time  of  the  coming  reformation. 

The  Council  by  vote  reaffirmed  its  former  injunc- 
tion on  the  people's  priests,  but  coupled  it  with  a 
request  of  the  Bishop  of  Constance  to  assemble  his 
clergy  and  come  with  them  to  some  agreement  as 
to  what  might  be  preached  in  his  diocese.' 

The  bishop  must  have  been  dissatisfied  with  the 
results  of  his  commission,  and  so  a  little  later  he 
sent  letters  to  his  clergy  to  the  cathedral  chapter 
(May  22,  1522)  and  to  the  Zurich  City  Council 
(Saturday,  May  24,  1522),  urging  these  bodies  to 
suppress  heresy.  Still  Zwingli's  name  was  not 
mentioned. 

On  Sunday,  April  27th,  the  Swiss  mercenaries 
were  defeated  at  La  Bicocca,  near  Milan,  in  Italy, 
and  the  news  gave  so  much  point  to  Zwingli's  oppos- 
ition to  the  foreign  service  that  when  the  Council 
learned  that  the  cantonal  assembly  was  about  to 
meet  at  Schwyz,  they  asked  him  to  do  his  best  to 
discourage  the  pensionaries  who  were  sure  to  be 
present  and  try  to  persuade  the  canton  to  let  them 
have  more  troops.  So  Zwingli  rushed  through  the 
press  a  hastily  written  pamphlet,  which  bears  the 
title,  "  An  earnest  exhortation  addressed  to  the 
Confederates  not  to  suffer  themselves  to  come  into 
dishonour  through  the  wiles  of  their  foes.""     The 


'  Bullinger,  i.,  "jO  S(j.  Egli,  Actensammlung,  No.  236.  Zwingli 
retells  the  story  of  the  commission  in  a  letter  to  Myconius,  undated, 
but  certainly  in  June.     See  vii.,  202  sq. 

^  II.,  2,  286-298.     It  is  dated  May  16,  1522,  which  was  the  day 


1522]         The  Reformation  Begins  165 

pamphlet  glows  with  the'  brightest  fires  of  patriot- 
ism and  Christian  zeal.  In  the  most  moving  man- 
ner he  pleads  with  his  fellow-countrymen  not  to 
allow  the  pensionaries  to  persuade  them  that  any 
good  could  come  from  a  traffic  which  has  been 
fraught  with  so  many  evils  to  the  Swiss.  He  shows 
on  Scriptural  and  historical  grounds  how  a  good 
conscience  gives  strength  to  a  small  people  in  the 
midst  of  its  foes.  Incidentally  it  presents  an 
effective  plea  for  peace.  The  first  effect  of  the 
pamphlet  was  to  capture  the  assembly,  and  the 
pensionaries  were  defeated.  But  in  August  of  that 
year  they  induced  the  Diet  to  reverse  its  action, 
and  Zurich  for  thus  attempting  to  interfere  in  the 
Diet  had  henceforth  no  more  determined  foe  than 
Schwyz.' 

On  July  1st  the  Bishop  of  Constance  induced  the 
Swiss  annual  Diet  at  Baden  to  pass  a  mandate  pro- 
hibiting the  preaching  of  the  Reformation  doctrines.' 

On  July  2,  1522,  there  was  signed  at  Einsiedeln  a 
very  earnest  "  Petition  of  certain  preachers  of  Swit- 
zerland to  the  Most  Reverend  Lord  Hugo,  Bishop 
of  Constance,  that  he  will  not  suffer  himself  to  be 
persuaded  to  make  any  proclamation  to  the  injury 
of  the  Gospel,    nor  longer  endure  the    scandal   of 


when  the  intelligence  of  tlie  approaching  assembly  reached  Zurich. 
There  is  in  it  no  hint  that  the  suggestion  to  write  it  came  from  out- 
side ;  that,  however,  is  the  probable  conjecture  of  the  modern  editors 
of  Zwingli's  works. 

'  Haller,  on  July  8,  1522  (vii.,  207),  writing  from  Bern  told 
Zwingli  that  his  pamphlet  had  a  bad  name  in  Bern  and  that  its 
dedication  to  the  Swiss  exclusively  was  resented  by  the  pensionaries. 

*  Bullinger,  i.,  79. 


1 66  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1522 

harlotry,  but  allow  the  priests  to  marry  wives,  or  at 
least  to  wink  at  their  marriages,"  '  and  on  July  13, 
1522,  a  similar  but  not  identical  petition,  entitled 
A  friendly  request  and  exhortation  of  certain 
priests  of  the  Confederacy  that  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  be  not  stopped,  and  that  no  one  be  offended 
if  the  priests,  in  order  to  avoid  scandal,  contract 
marriages."  "^  The  first  was  in  Latin  and  had  eleven 
signatures,  of  which  Zwingli's  was  the  last,  and  was 
addressed  to  the  bishop  ;  the  second  was  in  German, 
as  printed  in  Zwingli's  works  bears  no  signatures 
(that  it  had  signatures  is,  however,  stated  in  its  last 
paragraph),  and  was  addressed  to  the  government  of 
the  Confederacy.  The  two  documents  are  so  much 
alike  and  so  much  in  Zwingli's  style  that  probably  he 
was  the  sole  author  of  them  both.^  Both  documents 
assume  that  the  party  addressed  is  favourable  to  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  so  inclined  to  listen  to 
the  petitioners'  plea  for  the  removal  of  all  hindrances 
to  its  free  course.  But  in  both  petitions  these  words 
about  preaching  the  Gospel  are  preliminary  to  what 
is  the  true  object  of  these  petitions,  viz.,  to  obtain 
from  the  bishop  permission  to  marry,  and  to  dis- 
suade the  government  from  opposing  the  permitted 
clerical  marriages,  if  the  bishop  allowed  them.      In 


'  III.,  17-25. 

M.,  30-51. 

^  Thus  on  July  7,  1522,  Xylotectus,  writing  from  Bern,  tells  him  a 
story  for  use  in  the  '■  little  book"  lie  is  writing  on  clerical  marriages, 
in  evident  allusion  to  the  German  petition,  and  he  suggests  that  a 
copy  be  sent  to  a  preacher  against  such  marriages  (vii.,  206),  cf. 
vii.,  208,  quoted  below.  So,  also,  another  correspondent  calls  him 
the  author  of  the  petition  to  the  bishop  (vii.,  245). 


1522]         The  Reformation  Be 


both  the  doctrine  is  taught  that  chastity  in  a  man 
cannot  be  preserved  unless  he  have  the  supernatural 
gift  our  Lord  is  supposed  by  the  petitioners  to 
allude  to  in  Matthew  xix.,  10-12!  They  very 
honestly,  and  with  expressions  of  shame  and  peni- 
tence, confess  that  they  have  violated  the  law  of 
chastity  very  often,  but  they  plead  in  extenuation  of 
these  offences  that  God  had  not  seen  fit  to  give  them 
the  gift  of  continence.  But  as  it  seems  to  them  that 
the  fact  that  they  live  unchastely  is  prejudicial 
to  the  Gospel,  and  is  the  occasion  of  much  trouble 
and  reproach  to  them,  they  desire  permission  of  the 
bishop  to  marry,  and  also  protection  for  married 
priests  from  the  State.  There  is  not  a  scintilla  of 
evidence  that  the  priests  who  signed  these  petitions 
were  a  whit  worse  than  the  other  priests  about  them. 
What  they  wanted  was  permission  to  contract  law- 
ful marriages.  Zwingli  at  the  time  he  drew  up  these 
petitions  was  living  in  "  clerical  "  marriage,  a  union 
unsanctioned  by  the  Church,  but  one  so  connived 
at  and  also  condoned  by  public  sentiment  that  the 
woman  he  was  living  with  was  called  his  wife.' 


'  See  Chap.  XI.  for  more  upon  this  point.  As  the  practices  of  these 
Swiss  clergy  so  candidly  revealed  by  these  petitions  were  those  of  men 
who  were  at  the  time  in  good  and  regular  standing  in  the  Church,  they 
must  be  considered  as  specimens  of  the  results  of  their  training, 
and  so  the  less  the  advocates  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  have  to 
say  on  the  subject  the  better  for  them.  It  is  part  of  the  unhappy 
bondage  of  that  Church  that  its  members  are  debarred  from  criticising 
it  freely,  but  are,  on  the  other  hand,  obliged  to  defend  its  practices, 
even  in  denying  marriage  to  its  clergy.  Roman  Catholic  writers  like 
Janssen  {Geschichte  dcs  Deutschen  Volkes,  iii.,  8g,  90,  note  ;  An 
meine  Kritiker,  127-145,  and  Ein  zweites  Wort,  46-48)  have  made  the 


1 68  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1522 

Of  course,  these  petitions  led  to  no  action  by 
those  addressed,  nor  could  the  signers  have  expected 
to  do  more  than  to  educate  public  sentiment  so 
that  their  own  contemplated  marriages  might  be  less 
opposed.'  By  coming  out  so  boldly  and  confessing 
so  humbly,  they  attested  the  possession  of  great 
courage.  Both  petitions  were  printed  in  Zurich 
together  and  sent  by  Zwingli  to  the  Bishop  of  Con- 
stance.^ Zwingli's  correspondence  shows  how  active 
he  was  in  distributing  them,  apparently  in  part  for 
signature,  and  how  he  viewed  signing  them.  On 
July  19th  he  writes  to  Myconius: 

"  I  send  you  these  petitions  which  you  know  all  about, 
but  they  come  a  week  later  than  I  could  have  wished. 
Still  it  could  not  be  managed  in  any  other  way.  Do  you 
circulate   them    as   shall   be    desirable,   for  so   Jodocus 


most  out  of  Zwingli's  confession.  Yes,  he  was  unchaste.  But  what 
does  that  show  ?  He  was  brought  up  in  the  same  Church  with  those 
who  criticise  him.  They  accept  his  testimony  regarding  himself  and 
his  companions.  Now  let  them  accept  this  further  testimony  of  his 
which  is  vouched  for  by  Canon  Hofmann  in  1521  {cf.  Egli,  Actcn- 
sainmlung.  No.  213,  p.  62):  "Among  a  hundred  or  a  thousand 
spiritual  persons,  priests,  monks,  nuns,  Brothers  and  Sisters,  and 
such  like,  who  promise  chastity  and  have  promised  to  be  chaste, 
scarcely  a  single  one  can  be  found  who  is  not  habitually  unchaste." 
He  put  the  permission  of  clerical  unchastity  by  the  payment  of  money 
among  the  Articles  on  which  he  was  prepared  to  speak  in  the  First 
Disputation  (January,  1523),  and  on  which  he  expatiated  in  print 
(art.  49,  i.,  156,  commentary,  i.,  378,  379).  Or  was  Zwingli  truthful 
respecting  himself  but  untruthful  respecting  others?  Let  Zwingli 
stand  condemned,  but  let  his  fellow-priests  equally  guilty  stand  in 
the  pillory  with  him  ! 

•  Cf.  what  Myconius  says,  p.  169. 

'  Cf.  i.,  31. 


1522]         The  Reformation  Begins  169 

Kilchmeier '  and  1  have  decided.  I  am  not  able  to 
write  to  Xylotectus  [/.  e.,  Joannes  Zimmermann]  now 
because  I  am  so  busy.  Tell  him,  however,  that  he 
has  given  no  offence  by  withholding  his  name":  on  the 
contrary  this  is  in  accordance  with  the  judgment  of  us 
all.  For  we  prefer  that  the  affair  be  carried  on  quietly 
and  that  it  should  be  done  gradually  rather  than  all  at 
once,  especially  since  there  are  some  who  fight  against  it 
so  fiercely.  For  the  sake  of  Christ  even  one's  own  wife 
will  have  to  be  abandoned,  but  Heaven  forbid!  It  is 
better  that  Xylotectus  in  the  character  of  Gamaliel 
should  be  able  to  say  to  the  Senate:  '  Separate  from  those 
men,'  etc.,  rather  than  that  he  should  be  driven  from  the 
city.  I  have  come  to  feel  hopeful,  although  there  is  little 
room  for  persuasion  among  our  people  for  rage  is  broad.' 

'  Kilchmeier's  name  to  the  petition  brought  him  into  trouble  (vii., 
245).  He  had  married  and  to  save  his  wife's  persecution  he  sent  her 
to  Zurich  to  be  under  Zvvingli's  care  (vii.,  248,  249). 

*  He  requested  this,  vii.,  203.  It  may  be  remembered  that  a  Wolf- 
gang Zymmermann,  as  the  name  was  spelled,  was  a  signer  of  the 
petition  given  on  p.  73  of  this  volume.     He  may  have  been  a  relative. 

^  VII.,  208,  209.  Myconius  on  July  22nd  (vii.,  209,  210)  acknow- 
ledged the  receipt  of  the  petitions  and  promised  to  distribute  them, 
and  also  ordered  extra  copies  for  Xylotectus.  Under  date  of  July 
28th  (vii.,  210,  211)  he  thus  speaks  of  the  reception  the  petitions 
met  with  in  Lucerne  :  "  The  good,  who  are  few  in  number,  commend 
your  little  book  ;  others  neither  praise  nor  vituperate.  I  hear,  how- 
ever, more  blame  than  praise.  They  say  that  you  have  undertaken 
to  do  a  thing  which  you  will  not  be  able  to  carry  through.  Others, 
that  you  must  think  the  bishop  stupid  since  you  refer  to  him  a 
thing  which  neither  he  nor  the  pope  is  able  to  permit,  but  only  a 
Council.  Others  mutter — but  these  are  all  priests.  What  the  com- 
mon people  think  I  do  not  know.  This  I  do  know,  all  to  a  man  are 
insane,  not  against  you  particularly,  but  against  the  Gospel.  The 
rage  of  war  fills  everybody."  The  references  to  these  petitions  in  his 
correspondence  of  1522  are  comparatively  numerous.  Cf,  vii.,  212, 
213,  242,  245. 


170  Huldfeich  Zwingli  [1522 

On  July  17th,  Zwingli  had  a  debate  with  Francis 
Lambert  of  Avignon,  a  Franciscan  monk  of  twen- 
ty years'  standing,  and  prominent  in  the  order. 
The  subject  was  the  Intercession  of  the  Saints. 
Lambert  had  already  imbibed  Reformation  ideas 
and  was  under  the  suspicion  of  his  brethren,  but 
had  not  yet  left  his  order.  In  the  debate  Zwingli 
took  the  extreme  Protestant  position,  and  Lambert 
made  but  a  feeble  opposition.  At  the  conclusion 
he  expressed  himself  as  Zwingli's  convert.  The  in- 
cident is  interesting  as  showing  that  Zwingli  had 
broken  with  the  Old  Church  on  a  point  of  great 
practical  importance.' 

Zwingli  thus  expressed  himself  when  writing  on 
July  30th  to  Rhenanus  upon  his  debate  with  Lam- 
bert, and  upon  his  subsequent  victory  over  the  monks 
in  Zurich: 

"  You  should  know  that  a  certain  Franciscan  from 
France,  whose  name  indeed  was  Franz,  was  here  not 
many  days  since  and  had  much  conversation  with  me 
concerning  the  Scriptural  basis  for  the  doctrine  of  the 
adoration  of  the  saints  and  their  intercession  for  us.  He 
was  not  able  to  convince   me  with  the  assistance  of  a 


'  Francis  Lambert  was  born  in  Avignon  in  i486,  and  entered  the 
Franciscan  order  there  when  fifteen  years  old.  In  1522  he  left  his 
monastery  by  permission,  ostensibly  to  carry  letters  to  the  general  of 
the  order.  He  went  from  Avignon  to  Lyons,  thence  to  Geneva, 
thence  to  Bern,  and  on  the  recommendation  of  Haller  came  into 
friendly  relations  with  Zwingli  (vii.,  206  207).  Long  previous  to 
the  debate  Zwingli  had  preached  on  the  topic  and  had  meditated 
publishing  his  sermons,  but  he  never  did  so.  Cf.  Haller's  letter  of 
January  28,  1522  (vii  ,  i8g),  in  which  he  said  tliat  he  was  daily 
expecting  to  read  Zwingli's  sermon  on  the  worship  of  the  saints. 


1522]         The  Reformation  Begins  171 

single  passage  of  Scripture  that  the  saints  do  pray  for  us, 
as  he  had  with  a  great  deal  of  assurance  boasted  he 
should  do.  At  last  he  went  on  to  Basel,'  where  he  re- 
counted the  affair  in  an  entirely  different  way  from  the 
reality  —  in  fact  he  lied  about  it.  So  it  seemed  good  to 
me  to  let  you  know  about  these  things  that  you  might 
not  be  ignorant  of  that  Cumsean  lion,  if  perchance  he 
should  ever  turn  your  way. 

"  There  followed  within  six  days  another  strife  with 
our  brethren  the  preachers  of  the  [different  orders  in 
Zurich,  especially  with  the  Augustinians].  Finally  the 
burgomaster  and  the  Council  appointed  for  them  three 
commissioners  on  whom  this  was  enjoined — that  Aquinas 
and  the  rest  of  the  doctors  of  that  class  being  put  aside 
they  should  base  their  arguments  alone  upon  those 
sacred  writings  which  are  contained  in  the  Bible.  This 
troubled  those  beasts  so  much  that  one  brother,  the 
father  reader  of  the  order  of  Preachers  [/.  ^,,  the  Do- 
minicans] cut  loose  from  us,  and  we  wept — as  one  weeps 
when  a  cross-grained  and  rich  stepmother  has  departed 
this  life.  Meanwhile  there  are  those  who  threaten,  but 
God  will  turn  the  evil  upon  His  enemies. 

"  I  suppose  you  have  read  the  petition  which  some  of 
us  have  addressed  to  the  Bishop  of  Constance.     .     .     . 


'  From  Basel  Lambert  went  to  Eisenach.  Early  in  1523  in  Witten- 
berg he  was  received  by  Luther  and  there  he  stayed  for  a  year.  In 
1524  he  is  found  in  Metz  and  Strassburg.  In  1526  he  was  invited 
into  Hesse  by  the  Landgrave,  Philip,  and  there  he  laboured  so 
effectively  for  the  Reformation  as  to  win  the  epithet  "  The  Reformer 
of  Hesse."  In  theology  he  was  a  Zwinglian.  In  1527  he  became 
professor  of  theology  in  the  newly  founded  University  of  Marburg, 
and  died  of  the  plague  in  that  place  on  April  18,  1530.  See  his 
biography  by  F.  W.  Hassencamp,  in  vol.  ix.  of  Leben  tind  ausge- 
wdhlte  Schriften  der  Viiter  ziiid  Begriindcr  dcr  reformirten  Kircke, 
Elberfeld,  i86i  ;  and  by  Louis  Rufiet,  Paris,  1873. 


172  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1522 

But  I  must  return  to  Schuerer  upstairs,  where  he  is  hav- 
ing some  beer  with  several  gentlemen  and  jokes  will  be 
in  order."  ' 

Another  step  which  showed  advance  in  spiritual 
freedom  in  Zurich  was  permission  to  the  secular 
clergy  to  preach  in  the  nunneries* ;  where  previously 
only  Dominican  monks  had  preached ;  and  a  still 
more  decided  one  was  the  unanimous  resolution  of 
the  Zurich  clergy,  on  August  15th,  not  to  preach 
anything  which  was  not  in  the  Bible. ^ 

On  August  22,  1522,  Zwingli  signed  the  preface 
to  the  first  considerable  writing  he  ever  issued,  his 
defence  against  the  bishop's  charges.  It  was  en- 
titled ArcheteleSy*  "  the  beginning  and  the  end," 
because  he  meant  to  do  the  thing  once  for  all.  He 
had  no  desire  to  keep  up  a  running  fight,  but  rather 
by  one  blow  to  win  his  spiritual  freedom.  It  is 
written  in  Latin,  which,  of  course,  curtailed  its  use- 
fulness. In  an  unsparing  manner  he  exposes  the 
unbiblical  and  anti-biblical  nature  of  the  exclusive 
claims  and  post-New  Testament  doctrines  and  prac- 
tices of  the  Western  Church.  He  sent  a  copy  to 
Erasmus,  who  wrote  this  characteristic  acknowledg- 
ment ^: 

"  I  have  read  some  pages  of  your  a.^o\ogy  [^Archeteles]. 
I  beseech  you  for  the  sake  of  the  glory  of  the  Gospel, 
which  I  know  you  would  favour  and  which  we  all  who 
bear  the  name  of  Christ  ought  to  favour,  if  you  should 


'  Suppl.,  31,  32. 

'  BuUinger,  i.,  77.     Cf.  pp.  173,  176  of  this  vol.        •*  III.,  26-76. 

3  I.,  30.  'VII.,  222,  223  (September  8,  1522). 


1522]         The  Reformation  Begins  173 

issue  anything  hereafter,  treat  so  serious  a  matter  seri- 
ously, and  bear  in  mind  evangelical  modesty  and  patience. 
Consult  your  learned  friends  before  you  issue  anything. 
I  fear  that  that  apology  will  cause  you  great  peril  and 
will  injure  the  Gospel.  Even  in  the  few  pages  that  I 
have  read  there  are  many  things  I  wanted  to  warn  you 
about.  I  do  not  doubt  that  your  prudence  will  take  this 
in  good  part,  for  I  have  written  late  at  night  with  a  mind 
that  is  most  solicitous  for  you.     Farewell." 

Zwingli  availed  himself  of  the  permission  to  preach 
in  the  nunneries,  and  afterwards  issued  two  sermons 
thus  originally  delivered.'  The  first,  dated  Septem- 
ber 6,  1522,  is  upon  the  Bible,  and  has  for  its  thesis 
that  only  the  Holy  Spirit  is  requisite  to  make  the 
Word  intelligible;  no  Church,  no  Council,  much 
more  no  Pope  is  needed.^ 

The  second  sermon  was  on  "  The  Perpetual  Vir- 
ginity of  Mary  the  Mother  of  Jesus  Christ  our 
Saviour,"'  which  thesis  Zwingli  maintained,  and 
thus  adds  his  name  to  the  honoured  roll  of  Protest- 
ants who  believe  that  Mary  not  only  never  had  a 
second  child,  but  remained  an  uncorrupted  maid. 
He  dedicated  the  sermon  to  his  brothers  who  lived 
at  Wildhaus,  and  published  it  September  17,  1522. 

'  Allusions  to  these  sermons  occur  in  his  correspondence  of  this 
year.     Other  allusions  in  correspondence,  vii.,  243,   246. 

'^  "  On  the  Perspicuity  and  Certainty,  or  Infallibility,  of  the  Word 
of  God"  (i.,  52-S2).  Stapfer  praises  it  (vii.,  234).  In  Schrift- 
detitsch  by  R.  Christoffel,  Zurich,  1S43.  The  original  hearers  were 
Augustinian  nuns  of  the  Oetenbach  convent  in  Zurich.  A  second 
edition  of  the  sermon  appeared  in  1524,  but  judging  from  the  preface 
to  it  Zwingli  made  small  impression  on  the  nuns. 

»  I.,  83-104. 


174  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1522 

He  denies  the  doctrine  of  Mary's  intercession,  but 
holds  her  up  for  imitation  in  purity,  innocence, 
and  faith.'  Under  date  of  November  ii,  1522, 
from  Bern,  Sebastian  Meyer  acknowlrd^ed  the  re- 
ceipt of  his  sermon  on  the  "  Choice  of  Foods,"  his 
petition  relative  to  the  marriage  of  the  clergy,  and 
his  Archetcles,  and  sent  him  a  copy  of  the  Bishop  of 
Constance's  pastoral  letter,  along  with  a  comment- 
ary upon  it,  and  requested  Zwingli  to  edit  it  for  the 
press.  This  request  he  probably  acceded  to.  At 
all  events,  it  appeared,  but  as  there  was  considerable 
danger  incurred  by  such  publication,  the  place  of 
publication  was  given  as  Hohenstein.'^ 

The  revolt  against  episcopal  authority  and  ecclesi- 
astical usages  spread  not  only  through  the  canton  of 
Zurich,  but  into  the  neighbouring  cantons.  To  be 
sure,  the  new  doctrines  were  called  "  Lutheran,"  ^ 
but  then,  they  were  accepted. 

In  September,  1522,  Zwingli  went  down  to  Ein- 
siedeln  to  preach  during  the  Angelic  Dedication.* 
He  embraced  the  opportunity  to  preach  the  doctrines 
of  faith  in  Christ  and  of  the  supremacy  of  the  Scrip- 
tures as  the  only  infallible  source  of  religious  know- 
ledge, which  he  had  arrived  at  independently  of 
Luther,  and  thus  secure  a  dissemination  of  such 
doctrines  all  over  Switzerland  and  Germany.' 

On    January   9,    1522,    Adrian    VL,    the    Dutch 

'  Allusions  to  it  in  his  correspondence  of  this  year,  vii.,  244,  246. 

*  VII.,  242  sqq. 

*  VII.,  217,  226,  231. 

*  See  pp.  99  sqq. 

'  Bullinger  (i.,  81)  conjectures  that  he  preached  on  the  topics  of  his 
published  sermons  of  the  year,  but  this  is  mere  guessing. 


1522]         The  Reformation  Begins  175 

Pope,  entered  on  his  office.  Known  to  him  was  the 
independent  stand  taken  by  Zurich,  but  shrewdly 
and  kindly,  for  Adrian  was  a  good  man,  he  wrote 
to  the  Zurich  authorities  a  pleasant  letter,  in  which 
he  expressed  no  blame,  but  on  the  contrary  promised 
to  pay  the  debt  the  papal  treasury  owed  Zurich, 
when  in  funds.  Well  were  it  if  it  had  been,  for  the 
money  was  not  forthcoming,  and  the  fact  embittered 
the  people  against  the  papacy. 

On  November  11,  1522,  Sebastian  Meyer  reports 
from  Bern  that  Zwingli  had  been  forbidden  to  preach 
by  the  Zurich  Senate.'  This  was  the  shape  in  which 
the  action  of  Zwingli  in  sacrificing  his  people's 
priestship  on  November  9th  reached  Bern.  The 
resignation  was  made  publicly  from  the  pulpit  on 
the  ground  that  he  could  no  longer  discharge  some 
of  the  duties  connected  with  the  office,  as  they  were 
against  his  conscience.*  The  Senate  allowed  him  to 
resign  and  someone  else  was  chosen,  at  the  same 
time  it  requested  him  to  continue  to  preach.  As  it 
acted  entirely  without  consultation  with  the  bishop, 
it  was  a  more  pronounced  act  of  independence  than 
any  yet  ventured  on.  But- more  was  to  come;  for 
next  the  Senate  forbade  pensions  and  mercenaries,* 
and  refused  to  give  up  to  the  bishop  two  pastors  of 
evangelical  opinions.*  It  introduced  regulations  for 
the  better  instruction  of  the  children  in  religion. 


•  VII.,  244. 
"     *  Egli,  A.   S.  {i.  e.,  Actetisaiufnlung,  this  contraction  will  be  for 
convenience  used  hereafter),  No.  290. 

'  Ibid.,  259,  293. 

*Egli,  A.  S.,  No.  270. 


17^  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1522 

At  the  same  time  the  Senate  punished  those  who 
treated  with  ridicule  the  old  order,  and  even  Fro- 
schauer  for  putting  on  sale  some  satires  on  the  hier- 
archy which  he  had  brought  from  the  Frankfort  Fair.' 
When  some  nuns,  who  pleaded  that  their  vows  were 
contrary  to  the  Word,  requested  permission  to  leave 
the  convent,  the  Senate  ordered  that  they  should 
stay  till  next  spring  and  await  the  contemplated  re- 
form. It  took  the  convents  out  of  the  exclusive 
confessional  control  of  the  Dominicans  and  allowed 
the  nuns  to  choose  for  their  confessors  whom  they 
would." 

A  friend,  writing  from  Ravensburg,  in  Wurtem- 
berg,  twenty-two  miles  east-north-east  of  Constance, 
had  informed  Zwingli,  under  date  of  November  2, 
1522,'  that  at  the  Imperial  Diet  at  Nuremberg  that 
year  it  was  declared  that  the  Pope  had  four  plans  in 
hand :  "  peace  between  Caesar  and  Pompey  [z.  e.,  be- 
tween the  Emperor  and  the  King  of  France] ;  the 
annihilation  of  the  cause  of  Luther ;  the  reform  of  the 
Church;  and  a  war  against  the  Turks,"  This  was 
the  occasion  of  Zwingli's  Latin  pamphlet,  hastily 
written  as  usual,*  entitled:  "  A  suggestion  of  the 


'  Egli,  A.  s..  No.  284. 

'  Egli,  A.  S.,  No.  291,  298,  301. 

»  VII.,  241. 

*  Zwingli,  writing  to  Myconius  on  August  26,  1522,  thus  candidly 
describes  his  literary  methods  :  "  I  am  rough  and  impatient  of  the 
time  necessary  for  condensing  and  polishing.  You  know  that  my 
mind  is  felicitous  in  nothing  except  invention,  if  indeed  that  is  not 
the  greatest  infelicity  which  is  either  not  willing  or  not  able  to 
adorn  and  polish  and  so  render  worthy  of  immortality  what  one  has 
done  in  the  way  of  invention.     Yet  when  I  imagine  I  have  studied 


1522]         The  Reformation  Begins  177 

advisability  of  reflecting  upon  the  proposal  made 
by  Pope  Adrian  to  the  princes  of  Germany  at 
Nuremberg;  written  by  one  who  has  deeply  at 
heart  the  welfare  of  the  Republic  of  Christ  in  gen- 
eral and  of  Germany  in  particular."  '  It  is  charac- 
terised by  Zwingli's  qualities  of  clear-mindedness, 
candour,  modesty,  and  Christian  zeal.  It  contains 
several  skilful  quotations  of  Scripture.  It  expresses 
great  scepticism  as  to  the  reality  of  the  alleged  papal 
schemes  except  the  crushing  of  Luther;  and  against 
that  it  utters  an  emphatic  protest.  No  reformation 
could  come  from  Rome. 

On  December  4,  1522,  Jodocus  Kilchmeier  sends 
for  confirmation  of  the  report  that  Zwingli  had  nar- 
rowly escaped  death  at  the  hands  of  two  monks." 

On  the  Saturday  before  St.  Thomas's  day,  which 
is  December  21st,  and  which  in  this  year,  1522,  fell 
upon  Sunday,  Zwingli  preached  an  earnest  sermon 
against  pensions,  which  had  the  immediate  effect 
that  all  those  of  the  cathedral  clergy  who  had  pen- 
sions from  the  Pope  or  other  potentate  renounced 
them  before  the  burgomaster."  The  bruit  of  the 
religious  revolt  in  Germany  reached  Zurich,  and  ex- 
cited the  liveliest  interest.  The  writings  of  Luther 
were  in  great  demand,  and  Zwingli  did  his  best  to 


enough,  a  disgust  at  my  own  performance  presently  seizes  me,  and  I 
feel  such  a  loathing  for  what  I  have  thus  far  written  that  reviewing 
it  is  likely  to  produce  nausea."  (VII.,  218,  219.)  Cf.  his  remarks 
to  Vadian  upon  the  extreme  haste  with  which  he  rushed  his  books 
through  the  press.     (VII.,  333). 

•  III.,  77-82. 

»VII.,  249. 

'  BuUinger,  i.,  83. 


178  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1522] 

circulate  them.  Thus  there  was  gradually  built  up 
a  strong  party  in  favour  of  reform.  In  it  were  to 
be  reckoned  many  members  of  the  City  Council. 
Under  the  circumstances  great  pressure  was  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  Council  to  take  some  more  decided 
position  upon  the  subject  of  eccle.  iastical  reform. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   REFORMATION  DEFENDED 

1523 

ON  December  10,  1522,  Oecolampadius  of  Basel 
wrote  to  Zwingli  a  very  friendly  letter  in 
which  he  expressed  an  even  extravagant  admiration 
of  Zwingli,  based  entirely  upon  report,  as  he  had 
never  met  him,'  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  fre- 
quent and  intimate  correspondence,  for  the  two 
became  true  yoke-fellows  in  the  cause  of  the  Reform- 
ation. Though  living  in  different  cities  their  rela- 
tion bears  a  resemblance  to  that  between  Luther 
and  Melanchthon  —  in  that  Oecolampadius  was 
Zwingli's  wise  counsellor  and  efficient  coadjutor, 
yet  distinctly  of  secondary  importance.  The  first 
letter  of  Zwingli's  preserved,  of  the  year  1523,  is  to 
Oecolampadius."  It  is  dated  January  14th.  He 
disclaims  the  latter's  praise,  and  with  equal  warmth 
commends  his  correspondent's  learning,  piety,  and 
zeal.  To  him  he  announces  the  "  contest  "  which 
the  Council  had  decreed,  and  rumour  had  it  that 
John  Faber,  vicar-general  of  Constance,  would  be 
present.  Then  sarcastically  he  adds:  "  May  God 
bring  it  about  that  he  be  not  held  back,  so  that 

'VII.,  251,  252. 
»VII.,  261. 

139 


I  So  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523 

Rome  and  Constance  may  not  be  defrauded  of  their 
accustomed  triumphs  .  .  .  such  as  up  to  the 
present  they  have  been  able  to  carry  off." 

The  "  contest  "  is  known  in  history  as  the  first 
of  the  two  religious  disputations,  which  openly 
placed  Zurich  on  the  side  of  the  Reformation,  the 
second  being  held  in  October  of  the  same  year,  1523. 
The  invitation  to  the  first  disputation  was  as  follows: 

"  We,  the  Burgomaster,  Council  and  the  Great  Coun- 
cil, as  the  Two  Hundred  of  the  city  of  Zurich  are  called, 
send  to  all  and  every  people's  priest,  pastor,  curate, 
and  preacher  having  parish  and  dwelling  in  our  cities, 
country,  dominion,  upper  and  lower  jurisdiction  and 
territory,  our  salutation,  favourable  and  gracious  dis- 
position, and  would  have  you  to  wit:  Since  now  for  along 
time  much  dissension  and  disagreement  have  existed 
among  those  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  common  peo- 
ple, some  believing  that  they  have  truly  and  completely 
delivered  the  gospel  message,  others  reproving  them  as 
if  they  had  not  done  it  skilfully  and  properly.  Conse- 
quently the  latter  call  the  former  errorists,  traitors,  and 
even  heretics,  although  they,  desiring  to  do  the  best 
thing,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  honour  of  God,  peace  and 
Christian  unity,  offer  to  give  to  everyone  desiring  it  ac- 
count and  proof  of  their  doctrines  out  of  Holy  Script- 
ures. So  this  is  our  command,  will,  and  desire:  That  ye 
pastors,  curates,  preachers,  as  a  body  and  individually, 
if  any  especial  priests  desire  to  speak  about  this,  having 
benefices  in  our  city  of  Zurich,  or  otherwheres  in  our 
territory,  or  if  any  desire  to  reprove  the  other  side, 
or  otherwise  to  instruct  them,  appear  before  us  on  the 
day  after  Emperor  Charles's  day,  that  is  the  nine  and 
twentieth  day  of  the  month  of  January,  at  early  Council 


1523]       The  Reformation  Defended        i8i 

time,  in  our  city  of  Zurich  and  particularly  in  our  Coun- 
cil House,  and  that  those  contending  should  do  so,  using 
the  truly  Divine  Word  in  the  German  tongue  and 
speech.  There  we  with  all  diligence,  with  some  scholars, 
if  it  seems  good  to  us,  will  give  attention,  and,  according 
to  what  shall  prove  itself  to  be  consonant  with  Holy 
Scripture  and  truth,  we  shall  send  each  and  every  one  of 
you  home  with  the  command  to  continue  or  to  abstain; 
so  that  from  henceforth  each  one  may  not  preach  from 
the  pulpit  what  seems  to  him  good,  without  foundation 
in  the  true  Holy  Scripture.  We  shall  also  announce  the 
same  to  our  gracious  lord  [the  Bishop]  of  Constance,  so 
that  his  Grace  or  his  representative,  if  he  so  desire,  may 
also  be  present.  But  if  anyone  be  contrarious  and 
bring  not  in  proof  from  the  true,  Holy  Scripture  with 
him  we  shall  proceed  further  according  to  our  know- 
ledge, in  a  way  from  which  we  would  gladly  be  relieved. 
We  are  also  of  good  hope  in  Almighty  God  that  those 
earnestly  seeking  the  light  of  truth  He  will  so  graciously 
illuminate  with  the  same,  that  we  may  walk  in  the  light 
as  children  of  the  light. 

"  Given  and  officially  stamped  with  our  secret  seal, 
Saturday  after  the  Circumcision  of  Christ  [January  3] 
and  after  His  birth  in  the  three  and  twentieth  year  of  the 
lesser  reckoning."  ' 

Before  the  time  came,  Pope  Adrian  VI.  addressed 
to  Zwingli  the  following  letter: 

"  Adrian,  Pope,  the  sixth  [of  the  name],  to  his  dear 
son  salutations  and  the  Apostolical  benediction:  We 
send  the  venerable  brother  Ennius,  Bishop  of  Verulam, 
our  domestic  prelate  and  Nuncio  of  the  Apostolic  See,  a 

'  I.,  115,  116  ;  Egli,  .^.  .S-.,  No.  318. 


i82  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523 

man  distinguished  for  prudence  and  fidelity,  to  that  un- 
conquerable nation  most  completely  linked  unto  us  and 
to  the  Holy  See,  in  order  that  he  may  treat  with  it  re- 
specting things  of  the  highest  importance  to  us  and  the 
Holy  See,  and  to  the  entire  Christian  commonwealth. 
Although  he  is  enjoined  to  conduct  our  affairs  with  your 
nation  openly  and  in  public,  yet  because  we  have  a  cer- 
tain knowledge  of  your  distinguished  merits  and  es- 
pecially love  and  prize  your  loyalty,  and  also  place 
particular  confidence  in  your  honesty,  we  have  commis- 
sioned this  Bishop,  our  Nuncio,  to  hand  over  to  you  in 
private  our  letter,  and  declare  our  best  intentions  to- 
ward you.  We  exhort  your  devotion  in  the  Lord,  and 
that  you  have  all  confidence  in  Him,  and  with  the  same 
disposition,  in  which  we  are  inclined  to  remember  your 
honour  and  profit,  to  bestir  yourself  also  in  our  affairs 
and  in  those  of  the  Apostolic  See.  For  which  you  will 
earn  no  small  thanks  from  us. 

"  Given  at  Rome  at  St.  Peter's,  under  the  ring  of  the 
Fisherman,  January  23,  1523,  of  our  pontificate  the  first 
year."  ' 

Oecolampadius,  in  his  letters  to  Zwingli  of  Janu- 
ary 17,  1523,  and  January  21st,  expresses  displeasure 
at  the  approaching  disputation,  on  general  grounds, 
and  gently  warns  him  against  losing  his  temper  and 
carrying  on  a  dispute  instead  of  a  discussion." 

Glareanus  wanted  to  come,  however,  but  was  un- 
able to." 


'  VII.,  266,  267.  Zwingli  informed  Wyttenbach  (June  23,  1523, 
vii.,  300)  that  he  told  the  bearer  of  the  letter  to  his  face  that  the 
Pope  was  Antichrist. 

«  VII.,  2C2,  265. 

"VII.,  264.  It  appears  from  this  letter  that  Zwingli  had  erron- 
eously written  that  the  debate  would  be  on  January  20. 


1523]      The  Reformation  Defended       183 

In  preparation  for  the  event,  and  to  give  direction 
to  the  speeches,  Zwingli  published  on  January  19th 
sixty-seven  Articles  in  German  which  really  sum 
up  his  teaching.'  Some  of  the  Articles  literally  trans- 
lated are  these:  i.  All  who  say  that  the  Gospel  is 
nothing  without  the  confirmation  of  the  Church  err 
and  reflect  on  God.  11.  Therefore  we  see  that  the 
spiritual  (so-called)  ordinances  relative  to  show, 
riches,  orders,  titles,  and  laws  are  a  cause  of  all 
folly,  as  they  do  not  agree  with  the  Head  [Christ]. 
17  (Of  the  Pope).  That  Christ  is  the  only  eternal 
high-priest,  therefore  it  follows  that  those  who  have 
given  themselves  out  as  high-priests  resist,  yea,  re- 
ject the  honour  and  authority  of  Christ.  18  (Of  the 
Mass).  That  Christ,  who  has  once  offered  Himself, 
is  to  all  eternity  the  perpetual  and  redeeming  sacri- 
fice for  the  sins  of  all  believers ;  therefore  it  follows 
that  the  Mass  is  not  a  sacrifice,  only  the  commemo- 
ration of  the  sacrifice  and  the  assurance  of  the 
redemption  which  Christ  has  shown  us.  19  (Interces- 
sion of  the  Saints).  That  Christ  is  the  sole  mediator 
between  God  and  us.  20.  That  God  will  give  us 
all  things  in  His  name.  Consequently  it  follows 
that  we  do  not  need  any  other  mediator  than  He 
outside  of  this  life.  21.  That  when  we  pray  for  one 
another  we  do  so  in  a  way  to  show  that  all  things 
will  be  given  us  through  Christ  alone.     24  (Food 


'  These  Articles  are  given  in  full  in  the  original  Swiss-German,  in 
i.,  153-157  ;  by  Schaff,  in  his  Creeds  of  Christewf.oin,  iii.,  197-207, 
in  a  modern  German  translation  side  by  side  witU  a  free  Latin  trans- 
lation ;  he  gives  a  free  English  translation  of  twent)'-six  of  the 
Articles  in  his  History  ofJJie  Christian  Church,  vii.,  52,  53. 


1 84  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523 

Prohibition).  That  every  Christian  is  not  bound  to 
do  what  God  has  not  commanded,  so  he  may  at  any 
time  eat  any  sort  of  food ;  therefore  it  follows  that 
the  cheese  and  butter  dispensations  '  are  Roman 
impositions.  28  (Marriage  of  the  Clergy).  That  all 
which  God  allows  or  has  not  forbidden  is  right; 
therefore  it  follows  that  marriage  is  proper  for  all. 
30  (Vows  of  Chastity).  That  those  who  take  vows  of 
chastity  foolishly  or  childishly  assume  too  much ; 
therefore  it  follows  that  those  who  take  such  vows 
do  wrong  to  pious  people.^  34  (Of  the  Hierarchy). 
The  so-called  spiritual  power  has  no  ground  for  its 
pomp  in  the  teachings  of  Christ.  35  (Secular  Power 
from  God).  But  the  secular  has  authority  and  con- 
firmation in  the  teaching  and  example  of  Christ. 

36.  All  that  the  so-called  spiritual  order  claims  to 
belong  to  it  of  right  and  for  the  protection  of  the 
right  belongs  to  the  secular  arm  when  it  is  Christian. 

37.  To  it  all  Christians  without  exception  owe  obedi- 
ence ;  (38)  so  far  as  it  does  not  order  what  is  contrary 
to  God.  49  (Of  Scandal).  I  do  not  know  of  any 
greater  scandal  than  that  the  priests  should  not  be 
allowed  wives,  but  should  be  allowed  concubines  by 
paying  money  for  the  privilege.  Out  upon  the 
shameful  business!  57  (Of  Purgatory).  The  true 
Holy  Scriptures  know  nothing  of  a  purgatory  after 
this  life.  58.  The  judgment  passed  upon  the  dead 
is  known  only  to  God.  59.  And  the  less  God  has 
let  us  know  about  it,  so  much  the  less  should  we 


'  Issued  by  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  allowing  these  articles  to 
be  eaten  during  Lent  by  those  receiving  them. 
^  By  implying  that  only  celibates  are  chaste. 


1523]       The  Reformation  Defended       185 

assume  to  know.  60.  If  anyone  concerned  for  the 
dead  calls  on  God  to  show  them  mercy,  I  do  not 
consider  that  so  objectionable;  but  to  set  a  time  for 
the  punishment  (seven  years  for  a  mortal  sin),  and 
for  the  sake  of  gaining  your  end  lie  about  it,  is  not 
human,'  it  is  devilish.  66.  All  spiritual  superiors 
should  immediately  humble  themselves  and  exalt 
alone  the  cross  of  Christ,  not  the  money-chest,  or 
they  will  perish,  for  I  say  to  you :  the  axe  is  at  the 
tree.  6j,  If  anyone  wants  to  talk  with  me  about 
taxes,  tithes,  unbaptised  children,  confirmation,  I 
am  perfectly  willing  to  answer  his  questions. 

On  January  26th  Glareanus  wrote  to  him  from 
Basel  that  when  a  Doctor  Gebweiler,  who  had  once 
been  elected  rector  of  the  university  there,  was  asked 
if  the  university  intended  to  send  a  representative  to 
the  Zurich  disputation,  he  replied:  "  Only  knaves 
are  going  to  Zurich,  and  Zwingli  is  a  knave  too,  and 
preaches  heresy."  Glareanus  also  informed  him 
that  neither  Fabri  ^  nor  Eck  was  ready  in  the  German 
language;  they  did  better  in  Latin.' 

On  the  eventful  day,  Thursday,  January  29,  1523, 
above  six  hundred  persons  assembled  in  the  morning 
in  the  Town  Hall.  As  representative  of  the  bishop 
were  the  episcopal  major-domo,  Fritz  von  Anwyl,  the 
vicar-general,  Fabri  (or  Faber),  and  Doctor  Heyer- 
hansen  (Vergenhans).  With  them  were  Doctor 
Martin  Blansch  of  Tuebingen,  and  other  scholars  and 
prominent  persons  outside  the  diocese.     The  entire 

'  /.  e.,  is  not  a  simple,  human  weakness. 
*  Both  forms  Fabri  and  Faber  were  in  use. 
3  VII.,  267,  268. 


1 86  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523 

clergy  of  the  canton  were  present,  besides  large 
numbers  of  the  laity  of  all  ranks.  The  Diet  of  the 
Confederation  had  been  asked  while  in  session  at 
Baden  to  send  a  deputation,  but  had  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  the  request. 

The  burgomaster  presided,  and  stated  the  object 
of  the  meeting  in  these  words: 

"  Very  learned,  venerable,  noble,  steadfast,  honour- 
able, wise,  ecclesiastical  lords  and  friends:  In  my  lords' 
city  of  Zurich  and  in  its  territories  there  has  risen  for 
some  time  discord  and  strife  on  account  of  the  sermons 
and  doctrine  given  to  the  people  from  the  pulpit  by 
our  preacher  here  in  Zurich,  Master  Ulrich  Zwingli. 
Wherefore  he  has  been  reproached  and  spoken  against 
by  some  as  a  false  guide,  by  others  as  a  heretic.  So  it 
has  come  about  that  not  alone  in  our  city  of  Zurich 
but  in  the  country  under  the  authority  of  my  lords  such 
discord  among  the  priests,  also  among  the  laity,  in- 
creases, and  daily  come  complaints  to  my  lords  about  it, 
until  it  seems  that  there  is  no  end  to  such  angry  words 
and  quarrelling.  On  this  account  Master  Ulrich  Zwingli 
has  offered  often  from  the  public  pulpit  to  give  before 
everybody  the  rationale  and  ground  of  his  preaching  and 
doctrine  delivered  here  in  Zurich  in  an  open  disputation 
before  numerous  clergy  and  laity.  The  honourable 
Council  has  granted  this  request  of  Master  Ulrich  with  a 
view  to  stop  the  great  unrest  and  disputing,  has  allowed 
him  to  hold  a  public  disputation  in  the  German  language 
before  the  Great  Council  of  Zurich,  as  the  Two  Hundred 
are  called,  to  which  the  honourable  wise  Council  has  in- 
vited all  the  peoi)le's  i)riests  and  curates  of  the  canton; 
also  solicited  the  venerable  lord  and  prince,  etc.,  Bishop 
of  Constance;  on  which  his  Grace  has  kindly  sent  the 


.    \B  R  A  Ry' 
or  THE 

'HIVERSfT 


1523]       The  Reformation  Defended       1S7 

deputation  here  present,  for  which  the  honourable  Coun- 
cil of  Zurich  expresses  especial  great  thanks.  Therefore, 
if  anyone  now  present  has  any  displeasure  or  doubts  over 
the  preaching  and  doctrines  which  Master  Ulrich  here  has 
given  from  the  pulpit,  or  knows  to  speak  about  the  mat- 
ter, as  that  such  preaching  and  doctrine  were  and  must  be 
not  correct  but  seditious  or  heretical,  let  him  here  before 
my  lords  convict  the  oft-mentioned  Master  Ulrich  of  un- 
truthfulness, and  in  this  presence  here  confute  his  error 
by  Holy  Scripture  freely,  boldly,  and  without  fear  of 
punishment,  so  that  my  lords  may  be  spared  hereafter 
daily  complaints,  whence  originate  discord  and  disunity. 
For  my  lords  are  tired  of  such  complaints,  which  tend  to 
increase  constantly  from  the  clergy  and  laity  alike." 

The  meeting  was  then  declared  open  for  discussion. 
But  it  was  quickly  evident  that  on  the  episcopal  side 
there  was  no  desire  for  the  disputation.  The  major- 
domo  of  the  Bishop  promptly  disclaimed  all  inten- 
tion of  debating  anything.  The  delegation  was  there 
merely  to  find  out  why  there  was  so  much  difference 
of  opinion  on  religion  in  the  canton,  and  on  proper 
complaint  to  do  their  best  to  heal  the  differences. 
This  disclaimer  must  have  thrown  a  damper  on  the 
assembly,  but  Zwingli,  not  to  be  entirely  balked, 
held  forth  at  some  length  upon  the  impropriety  of 
calling  him  a  heretic,  and  announced  that  he  was 
there  to  defend  his  doctrine  against  all  comers, 
and  had  frequently  offered  to  do  so  previously,  even 
in  Constance  itself,  provided  he  had  a  safe  conduct. 
After  this  opening  Johann  Fabri,  the  vicar-general 
of  Constance,  and  a  friend  of  Zwingli,  entered  the 
lists,  and  almost  the  entire  morning  was  consumed 


1 88  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523 

between  them.  Fabri  was  much  more  courteous 
and  polished  in  his  addresses  than  ZwingH,  who  had 
a  good  deal  of  the  rough  and  ready  about  him. 
Fabri  began  by  claiming  to  be  a  friend  of  the  Gospel 
preaching,  indeed  to  be  a  Gospel  preacher  himself, 
but  he  contended  that  the  time  to  discuss  their  re- 
ligious differences  was  at  the  general  council  which 
the  Diet  of  Nuremberg  had  just  decided  to  call  a 
year  hence.  Further,  the  real  judges  of  such  dis- 
putes were  the  universities,  as  Paris,  Cologne,  or 
Louvain.  "  Why  not  Erfurt  or  Wittenberg?  " 
Zwingli  suggested.  At  this  all  laughed.  "  No," 
said  Fabri,  "  Luther  is  too  near  there,  and  then  all 
evils  come  from  the  North."  Zwingli  in  reply  made 
three  points:  i.  The  question  before  them  was 
simply  whether  God's  law  demanded  the  observance 
of  certain  customs,  not  how  old  they  were  or  who 
required  them.  2.  For  purposes  of  deciding  such 
questions  no  general  council  was  necessary,  the  as- 
sembly then  met  was  competent.  Nor  would  the 
Bible  be  the  arbiter  in  any  such  council.  3.  The 
universities  need  not  be  appealed  to.  The  Word 
of  God  was  the  infallible  and  impartial  judge.  And 
besides  there  were  good  scholars  in  the  Word  and 

/canon  law  there  present. 
After  Zwingli's  speech  there  was  a  pause.  Then 
the  burgomaster  urged,  and  then  Zwingli  urged  all 
those  who  had  anything  to  say  against  the  doctrine 
taught  by  him  to  say  it  and  disprove  his  teachings  out 
of  the  Scriptures.  A  priest,  after  another  awkward 
pause,  spoke  upon  the  arrest  of  Urban  Wyss,  pastor 
of  Fislisbach,  a  village  of  Baden,  on  the  border  of 


1523]       The  Reformation  Defended       189 

Switzerland,  by  the  Bishop  of  Constance  because  he 
had  disobeyed  the  Bishop's  mandate  relative  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  Old  Church  teaching,  and  asked 
what  those  should  do  who  like  himself  wished  to 
preach  the  pure  Gospel.  This  gave  occasion  to  a 
genuine  discussion  in  which  Fabri  and  Zwingli  bore 
the  chief  parts.  The  former  was  the  defender  of  the 
Old  Church  and  declared  that  from  the  Scriptures  he 
had  at  Constance  convinced  Wyss  of  his  errors,  and 
that  Wyss  had  renounced  them  and  would  therefore 
be  soon  released.  He  and  Zwingli  discussed  many  of 
the  points  in  dispute,  such  as  the  intercession  of  the 
saints,  clerical  celibacy,  and  the  authority  of  the 
Church ;  but  though  urged  by  Zwingli  and  others 
Fabri  refused  to  give  at  length  the  Scripture  proofs 
he  had  so  successfully  used,  as  he  claimed,  with  the 
alleged  heretic.  But  very  few  participated  in  the 
debate,  for  the  audience,  while  friendly  to  the  Re- 
formed party,  was  there  to  hear,  not  to  participate. 
Dinner-time,  which  was  ii  A.M.,  having  come,  and 
the  audience  being  tired  of  sitting,  was  about  to  be 
dismissed  when  up  sprang  a  canon,  one  of  those  in- 
dividuals who  like  to  call  attention  to  themselves 
in  such  assemblies,  and  tried  to  induce  Zwingli  to 
discuss  some  matters  which  properly  belonged  to 
the  chapter  meetings.  He  was  with  difificulty  sup- 
pressed, and  then  the  audience  dispersed  to  their 
abodes. 

In  the  afternoon  they  came  together  again.  The 
burgomaster  then  read  a  paper  which  the  Council 
had  just  drawn  up  in  the  recess.  It  was  an  emphatic 
approval  of  Zwingli's  doctrines,  and  a  request  that 


I90  Huldreich  Zvvingli  [1523 

all  preachers  in  the  canton  should  present  them.    It 
ran  thus: 

"  Whereas,  ye  now  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  and  upon 
the  command  of  the  burgomaster,  Council,  and  Great 
Council  of  the  city  of  Zurich,  and  for  the  reasons  com- 
prehended in  the  letters  already  sent  you,  as  obedient 
persons  have  appeared,  etc.,  and  whereas  again  a  year 
has  elapsed  since  an  honourable  embassy  of  our  gracious 
lord  of  Constance  appeared  here  in  the  city  of  Zurich 
before  the  burgomaster,  the  Little  and  the  Great  Coun- 
cil, on  account  of  such  things  as  you  have  heard  to-day, 
and  when  all  things  had  now  been  discussed  in  various 
fashions  it  was  reported:  that  our  gracious  lord  of  Con- 
stance was  about  to  call  together  the  learned  in  his  bish- 
opric, along  with  the  preachers  in  the  adjoining  bishoprics 
and  prelacies,  to  advise,  assist,  and  with  them  to  confer, 
so  that  a  unanimous  decision  might  be  reached  and 
everyone  would  know  how  to  conduct  himself;  but  since 
up  to  this  time,  perhaps  for  noteworthy  reasons,  nothing 
special  has  been  done  in  the  matter  by  our  gracious  lord 
of  Constance,  and  since  the  dissension  among  the  clergy 
and  the  laity  continually  increases,  therefore  once  more 
the  burgomaster,  Council,  and  Great  Council  of  the  city 
of  Zurich  in  the  name  of  God,  for  the  sake  of  peace  and 
Christian  unity,  have  fixed  this  day,  and,  countenanced 
by  the  honourable  delegation  of  our  gracious  lord  of 
Constance  (for  which  they  give  their  gracious,  exalted, 
and  diligent  thanks),  have  also  for  this  purpose  by  means 
of  open  letters,  as  stated  above,  written,  called,  and  sent 
for  all  people's  priests,  preachers,  curates,  collectively 
and  singly,  out  of  all  their  counties  into  this  city,  in 
order  that  in  the  examination  they  might  confront  with 
each  other  those  mutually  accusing  each  other  of  being 
heretics. 


15^3]       The  Reformation  Defended       191 

"  And  whereas  Master  Ulrich  Zwingli,  canon  and 
preacher  in  the  Great  Minster  in  the  city  of  Zurich,  has 
formerly  been  much  calumniated  and  accused  on  ac- 
count of  his  doctrine,  yet  no  one  has  raised  himself 
against  him  consequent  upon  his  declaring  and  explain- 
ing his  Articles,  or  has  disproved  them  on  the  ground  of 
Holy  Scripture;  whereas  he  has  several  times  challenged 
those  who  have  accused  him  of  being  a  heretic  to  step 
forward  and  no  man  has  proved  any  sort  of  heresy  in  his 
doctrine;  therefore  the  aforesaid  burgomaster,  Council, 
and  Great  Council  of  the  city  of  Zurich,  in  order  to  put 
an  end  to  disturbance  and  dissension,  have  upon  due 
deliberation  and  consultation  decided,  resolved,  and  it 
is  their  earnest  opinion,  that  Master  Zwingli  continue 
and  keep  on  as  before  to  proclaim  the  Holy  Gospel  and 
the  pure  Holy  Scripture  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  accord- 
ance with  his  capabilities,  so  long  and  as  frequently 
as  he  will  until  something  better  is  made  known  to  him. 

"  Furthermore,  all  your  people's  priests,  curates,  and 
preachers  in  your  cities  and  canton  and  dependencies, 
shall  undertake  and  preach  nothing  but  what  can  be 
proved  by  the  Holy  Gospel  and  the  pure  Holy  Script- 
ures: furthermore,  they  shall  in  no  wise  for  the  future 
slander,  call  each  other  heretic,  or  insult  in  such  manner. 

"  Whoever,  however,  appears  contrarious  and  not  suf- 
ficiently obedient,  the  same  will  be  put  under  such  re- 
straint, that  they  must  see  and  discover  that  they  have 
committed  wrong. 

"  Given  on  Thursday  after  Charles's  day,  in  the 
city  of  Zurich,  upon  the  29th  day  of  January  in  the  year 
MDXXni." 

Zwingli's  strong  point  was  in  asking  for  Scripture 
proof  that  he  was  wrong ;  yet  Fabri  offered  to  refute 


192  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523 

him  orally  or  in  writing  and  on  biblical  grounds. 
Zwingli  expressed  great  eagerness  to  have  him 
do  it. 

The  deliverance  was  a  great  victory  for  Zwingli, 
and  he  gave  public  thanks  to  God  for  it. 

Fabri  then  announced  that  he  had  just  got  a  copy 
of  Zwingli's  printed  Articles,  and  that  he  particu- 
larly objected  to  Zwingli's  denial  of  the  propriety  of 
Church  ceremonies,  i.  e.,  the  things  and  the  doings 
which  exalt  the  Church  worship,  and  that  he  would 
prove  their  propriety.  "  Good,"  said  Zwingli,  "  we 
shall  be  glad  to  hear  you."  Fabri  had  made  a 
rather  poor  show  in  the  morning,  but  now  he  was 
primed,  and  the  debate  with  Zwingli  was  much 
livelier  and  better  in  hand.  He  made  a  home  thrust 
when  he  slyly  asked  Zwingli  if  the  Council  were  not 
the  judge  between  them.  Zwingli,  however,  was 
not  to  be  caught  making  any  such  concession,  al- 
though that  was  the  position  the  Council  itself  had 
taken.  So  at  the  risk  of  giving  offence,  he  boldly 
maintained  that  Holy  Scripture  was  the  judge. 
Fabri's  thrust  did  not  penetrate  his  armour. 

At  length  the  long  debate  was  over,  and  as  the 
crowd  separated  the  burgomaster  was  heard  to  say : 
"  That  sword  which  pierced  the  pastor  of  Fislisbach, 
now  a  prisoner  at  Constance,  has  got  stuck  in  its 
scabbard";  while  the  abbot  of  Cappel  remarked: 
"  Where  were  those  who  wanted  to  burn  us,  and 
had  the  wood  piled  at  the  stake  ?  Why  did  they 
not  show  themselves  ?  "  ' 


'  The  above  account  of  tlie   disputation  is  based  directly  upon  the 
account  given  by  Erhard  Ilegenwald  and  printed  at  Zurich.    The 


1523]       The  Reformation  Defended       193 

On  February  4,  1523,  Glareanus  wrote  to  Zvvingli 
congratulating  him  upon  the  success  of  the  disputa- 
tion and  giving  him  the  sequel  of  the  railing  of  Doc- 
tor Gebweiler;  how  it  had  brought  him  into  investi- 
gation by  the  acting  bishop  and  into  disfavour  with 
the  City  Council,  which,  however,  had  previously 

preface  is  dated  March  3,  1523.  It  states  that  the  occasion  of  the 
pubHcation  is  the  appearance  of  false  accounts  of  the  disputation  ; 
that  he  was  present  and  wrote  out  the  speech  in  his  inn  immediately 
after  the  disputation,  and  inquired  of  others  whenever  things  were 
not  clear  to  his  own  mind.  It  is  possible,  perhaps  rather  probable, 
that  Zwingli  "  edited  "  it.  But  there  is  no  proof  that  he  did,  or  that 
he  altered  the  reports  of  his  speeches  for  the  better.  For  collocations 
and  other  editions  see  Finsler's  Zwiugli-Bihliographie  (Zurich,  1897), 
PP-  77.  78.  My  copy  is  the  original.  It  is  represented  in  the 
Schuler  and  Schulthess  edition  of  Zwingli's  works,  i.,  114-153.  Five 
editions  of  the  original  were  printed  and  widely  distributed,  and  it 
was  reprinted  at  Leipzig  and  Augsburg.  Fabri  considered  that  it 
put  him  in  a  bad  light,  although  Hegenvvald  strove  to  be  impartial. 
So  he  must  needs  get  out  his  own  account  of  the  disputation,  which 
he  styles  "  Trustworthy  information  as  to  what  took  place  in  Zurich 
on  January  23d."  In  his  preface  he  remairks  that  the  Bishop's  depu- 
tation had  not  gone  to  Zurich  to  debate  at  all,  but  he  had  publicly 
offered  during  the  disputation  to  debate  in  writing  with  Zwingli  on 
condition  that  the  papers  were  submitted  to  a  judge  for  decision. 
Hegenwald  had  suppressed  this  offer ;  and  had  so  reported  the 
speeches,  that  while  those  by  Zwingli  were  improved,  those  by  the 
opposite  side  were  made  to  sound  childish.  Fabri's  book  appeared 
March  10.  It  stirred  the  ire  of  seven  young  Zurichers,  who  brought 
out  on  September  ist  a  travesty  of  Fabri's  volume,  entitled  "  Das 
gyren  rupffen.  Halt  inn  wie  Johans  Schmid  Vicarge  ze  Costentz  mit 
dem  biichle  darinn  er  verheisst  ein  ware  bericht  wie  es  vff  den.  29. 
tag  Jenners.  M.D. XXIII.  ze  Zurich  gangen  sye  sich  iibersehe  hat. 
Ist  voll  schimpffs  vund  ernstes" — ("  The  Vulture  Plucked.  It  con- 
tains what  John  Schmidt,  vicar-general  of  Constance,  has  omitted  to 
state  in  his  book  wherein  he  promises  to  give  a  true  account  of  what 
took  place  upon  January  29,  1523,  at  Zurich.  It  is  full  of  things 
gay  and  grave,")  a  title  which  sufficiently  indicates  the  book.  BuUin- 
13 


194  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523 

acted  against  him.  He  repeats  the  commonplace 
slander  of  Zwingli's  relations  with  an  honest  wife.' 

From  the  letter  of  Glareanus  dated  February  14, 
1523,  it  appears  that  Zwingli  had  complained  to  the 
Council  regarding  Gebweiler's  slanders,  and  the 
Council  had  asked  the  Basel  Council  to  take  action. 
The  upshot  was  that  Gebweiler  apologised,  and  so 
the  affair  ended.'  This  backing  from  his  political 
superiors  was  of  the  greatest  value  and  protection 
to  Zwingli,  and  also  was  evidence  of  his  shrewdness 
in  caUing  upon  the  Council  to  decide  whether  he 
were  a  heretic.  Having  declared  him  innocent, 
they  were  bound  to  see  him  through. 

Fabri,  indeed,  boasted  of  victory,  but  Zwingli 
resented  his  action,'  and  had  really  more  substantial 
results  to  show.  Henceforth  he  moved  much  more 
securely,  as  he  knew  that  the  City  Council  and  most 
of  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  city  and  canton  were 
at  all  events  not  inclined  to  oppose  him. 

In  accordance  with  the  new  regulations  respecting 
the  cloisters,*  Leo  Jud  on  March  7th  succeeded  the 
Dominicans  as  preacher  in  the  aristocratic  nunnery 

ger  tells  the  story  and  gives  the  names  of  the  authors  (i.,  io8).  Fabri 
complained  of  it  to  the  Zurich  Council,  November  16,  1523,  and  em- 
phatically denied  that  he  merited  so  gross  and  personal  an  attack. 
He  asks  the  Council  to  inform  him  whether  the  book  appeared  with 
their  knowledge,  and  who  were  the  authors.  Wliat  the  answer  of  the 
Council  was  is  unknown.  See  letter  in  Strickler,  Actensammlting,  i  , 
No.  703.  The  contemporary  Roman  Catholic  historian,  Johannes 
Salat,  gives  in  his  chronicle  an  account  of  the  disputation,  plainly 
taken  from  Hegenwald,  but  somewhat  coloured.  See  his  Chronicle 
in  Archiv  fur  die  Schweizerische  Reformations  Geschichte,  i.,  42-53. 

'  VII.,  270,  271.  **  VII.,  273  sq. 

»  VII.,  276,  277.  *  See  p.  172. 


1523]       The  Reformation  Defended       195 

of  Oetenbach  ' ;  and  many  of  the  nuns  re-entered 
the  world,  taking  with  them  the  property  they  had 
brought  into  it.  In  the  summer  some  nuns  were 
bold  enough  to  marry.  These  radical  changes  were 
not  effected  without  opposition.* 

On  February  24th,  Zwingli  wrote  a  letter  to  Ur- 
ban Wyss,  the  alleged  heretic  already  mentioned, 
imprisoned  by  the  order  of  the  Bishop  of  Con- 
stance, urging  him  to  stand  firm  in  the  Gospel, 
but  not  expressing  much  confidence  that  he  would.' 
In  February,  Zwingli  was  hanged  in  effigy  at  Lu- 
zern,  but  he  took  the  insult  as  a  favour.*  Ash 
Wednesday  came  that  year  on  February  i8th.  No 
change  from  the  usual  food  prohibition  was  made, 
except  that  the  Council  accepted  the  plea  of  neces- 
sity.' After  Lent,  on  Tuesday,  April  28th,  occurred 
a  memorable  event  —  the  first  real  clerical  marriage 
in  Zurich.  So-called  clerical  marriages  which  were 
only  uncomplained  of,  but  none  the  less  reprehen- 
sible, concubinages  were  and  had  long  been  common 
—  in  such  a  relation  Zwingli  himself  lived  for  two 
years  —  but  for  a  priest  or  religious  to  marry  was  un- 
heard of.  William  R5ubli  was  the  first  to  do  the 
deed.  His  example  was  followed  on  Wednesday, 
June  24th,  by  the  chaplain  of  the  Great  Minster, 
Zwingli's  church,  and  indeed  in  that  cathedral  and 
with  an  ex-nun  of  Oetenbach.  Zwingli's  dear  friend, 
Leo  Jud,  who  early  in  the  year  became   people's 

'  In  the  present  city  of  Zurich.  The  building  is  now  an  orphan- 
age. The  other  nunnery  of  Selnau  is  now  also  in  the  city  limits 
and  used  as  a  prison. 

*  BuUinger,  i.,  no;  cf.  vii.,  279. 

»VlI.,  277.  <VII.,  278.  »Egli,  A.  S.,  No.  339. 


196  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523 

priest  of  St.  Peter's,  married  on  September  19th. 
Such  marriages  were  henceforth  common.'  Some 
time  in  March  Zwingli  received  two  touching  letters 
from  monks  in  the  Carthusian  Monastery  of  Ittingen, 
twenty-five  miles  north-east  of  Zurich,  near  Frauen- 
feld,  asking  his  advice  and  consolation." 

On  July  loth,  the  Bishop  of  Constance  issued  a 
long  letter  in  Latin  to  the  clergy  of  his  diocese  upon 
the  religious  troubles.  It  shows  considerable  Script- 
ure knowledge,  and  is  dignified  and  proper.^  At 
the  close  the  notorious  difficulty  in  those  days  of 
sending  notifications  to  scattered  individuals  led  to 
the  request  to  have  copies  of  the  imperial  edict  on 
the  subject,  which  accompanied  the  Bishop's  letter, 
made  and  distributed.  But  the  Council  sent  both 
communications  back  unopened!* 

As  was  to  be  expected,  Zwingli  prepared  an 
elaborate  commentary  on  the  Articles  he  had  drawn 
up  for  use  in  the  disputation.  He  began  immedi- 
ately after  it  was  over,  and  on  February  19th  states 
that  he  was  working  on  it  "  night  and  day;  do  you 
therefore  pray  to  our  common  Christ  that  He  may 
never  suffer  me  to  slip.  For  it  Avill  be  a  sort  of 
farrago  of  the  opinions  which  are  to-day  under  de- 
bate. I  will  write  in  German,  for  the  Articles  have 
appeared  in  that  tongue."  '     His  friends  awaited  it 

'  Bullinger  gives  (i.,  io8  sq.)  quite  a  list  of  these  clerical  Benedicts. 
The  connection  between  a  priest  leaving  the  Roman  Church  and  his 
marriage  is  generally  close. 

2  VII.,  282-285. 

*  Strickler,  Actensammlung,  i.,  219-222. 

<EgIi.  A.  S.,  No.  386. 

»  VII.,  275. 


1523]       The  Reformation  Defended       197 

eagerly.'  June  came  and  found  him  amid  many 
distractions  still  toiling  at  his  task.'  At  length  on 
Tuesday,  July  14th,  he  signed  the  dedication  —  to 
his  old  congregation  at  Glarus  —  and  so  finished  his 
volume  which  bears  the  title  :  "  Exposition  and  Proof 
of  the  Conclusions  or  Articles."  ^  It  was  written  for 
the  people,  and  admirably  served  its  purpose.  It 
is  clear  in  language,  though  discursive  in  style,  and 
goes  over  the  ground  covered  in  the  Articles.  It 
is  full  of  personal  allusions.'  It  contains  Zwingli's 
first  printed  assertion  of  his  relation  to  Luther.  He 
repudiates  the  term  "  Lutheran  "  as  applied  to  him 
and  his  teaching,  and  asserts  his  entire  independence 
of  Luther,  although  they  agree  on  many  points.* 
He  confesses  his  great  debt  to  Erasmus.^ 

With  this  volume  Zwingli  made  good  his  claim 
to  a  knowledge  of  the  Reformation  principles  and 
to  be  the  Reformation  leader  of  the  Swiss  and  South 
Germans,  who  henceforth  rallied  around  him  and 
not  around  the  Saxon  Reformer.  For  good  or  ill 
from  thence  on  Zwingli,  the  Reformer  of  German 
Switzerland,  took  his  stand  on  an  equal  level  beside 
the  Hero  of  the  Reformation.  No  sooner  had  he 
finished  his  "  Exposition  "  but  he  brought  out  a 
tractate  of  less  dimensions  indeed,  but  of  equal  prac- 
tical value.  It  was  designed  to  head  off  the  very 
excesses  in  the  direction  of  false  liberty  which  later 
were  attributed  to  the  Anabaptist  movement  and 

'  VII.,  288,  294. 
«VII.,  300. 

'  I.,  169-424  ;  also  in  modern  German  by  Christoffel  and  separately 
published,  Zurich,  1844. 

■•I.,  256,  and  elsewhere.  *I.,  298. 


198  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523] 

led  to  its  bloody  suppression.  The  tractate  ap- 
peared on  July  30th,  and  was  in  form  an  expanded 
sermon  on  "  Divine  and  Human  Righteousness,"  ' 
which  he  had  preached  on  St.  John  Baptist's  day 
(June  24th).  The  gist  of  it  is  thus  stated  in  the 
preface : 

"  The  Gospel  of  Christ  is  not  hostile  to  rulers,  nor  does 
it  occasion  any  disturbance  to  temporal  affairs,  rather  it 
confirms  the  authority  of  rulers,  instructs  them  in  the 
right  performance  of  their  duties  and  how  to  be  in  har- 
mony with  the  people,  if  they  act  in  a  Christian  manner 
according  to  the  divine  precepts."  ' 

'  I.,  425-458.     Translated   into  modern  German  by  Christoffel, 
Zurich,  1845. 
'I..428. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   REFORMATION   ESTABLISHED 
1523-1525 

DURING  the  two  years  from  the  uprising  of 
1523  to  the  corresponding  period  of  1525,  the 
Reformation  from  theory  and  prophecy  became 
fact.  The  successive  steps  may  therefore  most 
conveniently  be  here  stated  in  comparatively  few 
words. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  up  to  this  time  there 
was  no  real  change  in  the  religious  life  of  the  people. 
Lent  was  kept  as  usual,  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass 
was  offered,  confessions  were  heard,  and  absolution 
given,  the  images  in  the  churches  still  stood.  The* 
scriptural  authority  of  all  these  things  was  openly 
denied,  it  is  true,  but  they  existed  all  the  same. 
Some  of  the  priests  had  married,  but  as  some  of 
them  had  had  so-called  wives  before,  this  change 
was  not  so  noticeable.  Some  nuns  marrried.  The 
marriage  of  those  who  had  solemnly  vowed  to  lead 
strictly  celibate  lives  caused  great  scandal  among 
many  who  were  otherwise  friendly  to  the  Reforma- 
tion. Many  monks  and  nuns  left  the  convents, 
probably  in  many  cases  to  their  sorrow,  as  they 
found  "the  world  "  less  congenial  than  the  convent, 
even  though  the  round  of  prayers  and  duties  was 
often  irksome. 

199 


200  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523- 

Zwingli  had,  however,  prepared  the  ground  for  a 
fresh  growth  of  religious  customs,  and  it  came  up  as 
rich  as  he  could  desire,  and  his  preaching  early  effected 
very  radical  changes  which  affected  the  purses  as 
well  as  the  faith  of  the  people,  as  was  shown  when  on 
September  29,  1523,  the  Council  ordered  that  hence- 
forth no  fees  should  be  collected  in  the  Great  Min- 
ster for  baptisms,  dispensations  of  the  Eucharist,  or 
for  interments  without  gravestones;  that  the  use  of 
candles  at  burials  was  not  obligatory ;  that  all  the 
clergy  of  the  Minster  should  preach  the  Word  of 
God;  that  the  unnecessary  number  of  persons  sup- 
ported by  the  Minster  should  be  reduced  gradually 
by  not  filling  the  places  of  those  who  died  ;  that  the 
Bible  should  be  daily  publicly  read  for  an  hour  each 
in  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin,  and  at  the  same  time 
explained ;  that  a  thorough  education  be  given  to 
all  candidates  to  the  ministry,  and  that  the  children 
be  also  specially  cared  for;  and  that  for  educational 
purposes  suitable  buildings  be  provided  ;  that  holders 
of  benefices  should  as  far  as  possible  discharge  parish 
duties;  that  there  should  not  be  two  kinds  of  priests 
in  the  cathedral  —  canons  and  chaplains  —  but  only 
one  kind ;  that  the  cathedral  surplus  should  be  dis- 
tributed to  the  poor  under  the  care  of  a  committee 
of  which  Zwingli  was  one.' 

Caution  was  Zwingli's  characteristic.  He  would 
move  no  faster  than  public  sentiment  approved. 
Yet  he  did  his  best  to  form  such  sentiment.  He 
prepared  the  way  for  the  change  and  then  quietly 
let  thing's  come    to    a  crisis.      So  it    was  with    the 


'  Bullinger,  i..  115-119  ;  cf.  Egli,  A.  S.,  Nos.  368,  372,  425,  426. 


1525]     The  Reformation  Established      201 

radical  matter  of  using  the  vernacular  for  the  Church 
services;  Zwingli  advocated  it,  but  Leo  Jud,  in  the 
baptism  of  a  child  in  the  Great  Minster,  August  lo, 
1523,  first  introduced  it,  and  then  when  Zwingli 
found  it  was  popular,  he  proceeded  to  reform  the 
liturgy  and  unfold  his  novel  teaching  respecting  it. 
In  his  treatise  on  "  The  Canon  of  the  Mass,"  ' — 
dated  IV.  Cal.  Septemb.  (/.  e.,  August  29)  1523 
—  the  canon  is  that  part  of  the  mass  liturgy  in 
which  the  words  of  the  institution  appear,  and  is 
therefore  doctrinally  the  storm  centre  of  discussion 
respecting  it — he  enunciates  the  doctrine  now  so 
commonly  associated  with  his  name  that  the  Euch- 
arist is  not  a  mystery  but  a  ministry,  the  atmosphere 
is  not  awe  but  love,  the  result  is  not  infusion  of 
grace  but  of  enthusiasm ;  we  remember  Christ,  and 
the  thought  of  His  presence  stirs  us  to  fresh  exertion 
in  His  service.  He  proposed  a  substitute  for  the 
Latin  prayers  which  still  more  strikingly  would  set 
forth  these  teacl^jngs.  Yet,  characteristically  he 
made  no  innovatidp  himself  at  once.  His  books, 
however,  laid  down  principles  which  logically  fol- 
lowed out  would  oblige  a  complete  break  with  the 
Old  Church.  Yet,  so  slow  was  he  to  make  changes 
that  on  October  9,  1523,  he  actually  defended  him- 
self against  the  charge  that  he  retained  the  Old 
Church  ceremonies — the  use  of  the  cross,  vestments, 
choir-singing,  etc., — because  he  liked  them!' 

The  people  sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  the  vio- 

'  III.,  83-116,  written  in  io^r  days,  August  25  to  29,  and  dedi- 
cated to  his  patron,  Geroldseck. 

*  In  his  "  Apology  "  for  liis  tract  on  the  Mass  Canon,  dated  Octo- 
ber 9,  1523;  iii.,  ii7<(|2o. 


202  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523- 

lators  of  Lent  in  1522,  outran  his  prudence  and  put 
into  practice  the  Hne  of  conduct  he  advocated  be- 
fore he  was  ready  that  they  should.  But  he  was 
now  fully  embarked  upon  the  sea  of  troubles  incident 
to  radical  reform,  and  was  prepared  for  whatever 
came.  He  could  count  upon  little  sympathy  out- 
side of  Zurich/  but  within  it  he  was  strong.  Zwingli 
had  taught  that  the  images  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and 
of  the  saints  found  in  all  churches  were  idols,  and 
should  be  removed,  yet  he  took  no  steps  to  remove 
those  in  the  Great  Minster.  Bolder  spirits  under- 
took to  carry  out  his  ideas  elsewhere.  The  friends 
of  the  old  order  resisted,  denounced  the  action  as 
sacrilege,  and  secured  the  imprisonment  of  the 
offenders.  Zwingli,  as  in  the  case  of  the  earlier 
violators  of  Lent,  acknowledged  the  logic  of  the 
situation,  although  deprecating  the  violence  which 
the  iconoclasts  sometimes  used,  and  visited  the 
offenders  in  prison,  whom  he  addressed  not  as 
criminals  but  as  over-zealous  and  thoughtlessly  un-. 
ruly.  Still  the  situation  demanded  action  by  the' 
city  and  cantonal  authorities.  These  appointed  a/ 
committee  consisting  of  four  members  of  the  Little 
Council  and  four  of  the  Great  Council  to  study  with 
the  three  priests  in  charge  of  the  three  parishes 
(Zwingli,  Engelhard,  and  Jud)  the  Scripture  pass- 
ages bearing  on  the  religious  use  of  images,  and  to 
report  to  the  Great  Council.  Meanwhile  the  icono- 
clasts remained  in  prison.' 


'  The  Swiss  Diet  at  Baden  on  September  30,  1523,  passed  a  law 
threatening  all  adherents  of  the  Reformed  faith  with  punishment. 
'  So  Zwingli  writes  in  a  letter  of  October  9,  1523  (vii.,  311,  312). 


THE  G.-i^AT   MINSTER,   ZURICH. 


1525]     The  Reformation  Hstablished     203 

Subsequently  the  Council  on  Monday  before  St. 
Gall's  day  {i.  c,  October  12th)  summoned'  all  the 
clergy  of  the  canton  to  discuss  in  a  public  debate  on 
Monday,  October  26,  1523,  what  should  be  done 
about  the  Church  images  and  also  the  mass.  Urgent 
invitations  to  be  represented  were  sent  to  the  bishops 
of  Constance,  Basel,  and  Chur,  to  the  University 
of  Basel,  and  to  each  canton."  The  answers  were 
characteristic,  Constance  declared  (October  i6th) 
that  he  would  be  answerable  to  both  his  rulers  (Pope 
and  Emperor)  if  he  took  part  in  the  proposed  dis- 
putation;  urged  the  Council  to  give  the  idea  up, 
and  leave  all  such  questions  for  answer  at  the  com- 
ing General  Council.  Basel  declared  that  he  was 
too  old  and  weak  to  make  the  journey;  that  only 
the  whole  Church  should  undertake  such  changes, 
and  also  they  should  avoid  schism.  Chur  sent  no 
reply  at  all.  The  cantons,  except  Schaffhausen 
and  St.  Gall,  declined  to  send  deputations.  Bern 
and  Solothurn  replied  in  friendly  fashion,  but  said 
the  matter  should  be  discussed  by  the  Confederacy 
as  a  whole ;  the  abbot  of  St.  Gall  politely  declined 
to  come ;  Lucerne  reproached  Zurich  for  her  persist- 
ency in  error;  Upper  Unterwalden  was  bitter  and 
abusive.^ 

Notwithstanding  this  rather  discouraging  result, 
Zurich    persisted   and  the  debate  was  held.*     The^ 
Council  laid  down  the  same  general  conditions  as  iiv 

'  Bullinger  gives  the  text  of  the  summons,  i.,  128  sq, 
'  I.,  543. 

3  1.,  460. 

^  See  the  account  in  i.,  464-540,  as  reprinted  from  Ludwig  Het- 
zer's,  issued  December  8,  1523. 


204  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523- 

January:  the  language  used  should  be  the  vernacu- 
lar; the  final  authority  should  be  the  Word  of  God. 
Schaffhausen  was  represented  by  Sebastian  Hof- 
meister;  St.  Gall  by  Vadian  and  Schappeler.  The 
burgomaster  presided,  and  350  ecclesiastics  of  the 
canton  and  550  other  persons  were  counted  as  at- 
tendants. The  proceedings  lasted  three  days.  The 
first  day  was  given  to  a  debate  upon  the  proposition  : 
the  Church  images  are  forbidden  by  God  and  Holy 
Scripture,  and  therefore  Christians  should  neither 
make,  set  up,  nor  reverence  them,  but  they  should 
be  removed.*  It  was  resolved  to  remove  them 
wherever  it  could  be  done  without  disturbance  or 
wounding  tender  consciences.' 

Those  in  prison  for  the  offence  of  removing  them 
were  recommended  to  mercy,  and  the  burgomaster 
promised  to  spare  them." 

The  second  and  third  days  were  taken  up  in  dis- 
cussing this  proposition  :  the  mass  is  no  sacrifice,  and 
hitherto  has  been  celebrated  with  many  abuses, 
quite  different  from  its  original  institution  by 
Christ.  The  debate  being  now  on  a  burning  ques- 
tion was  livelier.  Zwingli  shrewdly  avoided  a  plain 
statement  as  to  the  exact  nature  of  the  elements, 
for  the  time  had  not  come  for  his  radical  stand,  but 
he  showed  wherein  a  representation  differed  from  a 
repetition  of  Christ's  sacrifice.  He  confessed  that 
transubstantiation  and  its  defenders,  especially  the 


'  Bullinger,  i.,  131.  The  burgomaster  interrupted  the  debate  in 
the  morning  at  11  A.M.  to  announce  that  it  was  time  to  go  to  dinner, 
and  the  next  session  would  begin  at  i  P.M. 

^  //'/(/.,  132,  133. 


1525]     The  Reformation  Established      205 

monks,  had  too  frequently  been  attacked  by  abuse 
•  rather  than  by  argument,  but  stoutly  declared  that 
the  monks  were  hypocrites,  and  monasticism  was  of 
the  devil.'  The  debate  on  the  third  day  began  at 
noon,  and  was  in  continuation  of  the  preceding.  But 
although  so  much  time  was  consumed,  no  decision 
was  arrived  at,  except  to  let  the  Council  handle  it. 
It  was  perhaps  noticed  that  the  debate  on  the  third 
day  did  not  begin  till  noon.  The  explanation  is  that 
Zwingli  preached  that  morning.  So  many  country 
preachers  could  not  separate  without  having  a  ser- 
mon from  the  leading  city  preacher.  Many  months 
later  he  expanded  the  discourse  by  urgent  request, 
and  published  it  March  26,  1524.''  It  is  called  "  The 
Shepherd."  In  it  he  contrasts  the  good  and  the 
false  shepherds.  He  set  plainly  before  them  the  pros- 
pect that  fidelity  would  lead  to  martyrdom.  Such 
was  the  fate  he  expected  for  himself,  as  appears 
from  his  letters.' 

Zwingli  on  November  11,  1523,  thus  informed 
Vadianus  *  what  happened  after  the  disputation : 
The  Council  selected  four  from  its  own  ranks  and 
four  from  the  citizens,  "  as  they  call  them,"  that 
they  might  consult  with  the  abbot  of  Cappel  (eleven 

'  I.,  502.     The  thoughtful  and  perhaps  hungry  burgomaster  inter-- 
rupted  the  debate  as  usual  at  ii  a.m.  to  remind  the  assembly  that 
it  was  time  to  go  to  dinner  !     I.,  519. 

*I.,  631-668.  It  was  translated  into  modern  German  by  Chris- 
toffel,  Zurich,.  1843,  and  by  B.  Riggenbach,  Basel,  18S4,  and  was 
translated  into  English  under  the  title,  "  The  Image  of  Both  Pastors," 
London,  1550. 

2  Cf.,  e.  g.,  vii.,  319  sqq. 

*  Who  had  been  one  of  the  three  presidents  at  the  recent  disputa- 
tion (BuUinger,  i.,  130). 


2o6  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523- 

miles  south  of  Zurich),  the  provost  of  Embrach  (ten 
miles  north  by  east),  the  comtur  of  Kiissnacht 
(five  miles  south  by  east  on  Lake  Zurich),  and  the 
chief  priests  of  the  three  parishes  of  Zurich, — 
Zwingli,  Engelhard,  and  Jud, — 

"  so  as  to  discover  a  plan  by  which  to  move  forward  the 
work  of  Christ.  It  was  agreed  that  a  brief  introduction 
to  the  Council's  order  should  be  written  by  me,  by  means 
of  which  those  bishops  [ruling  pastors]  who  had  hitherto 
either  been  ignorant  of  Christ,  or  had  been  turned  away 
from  Him,  should  be  induced  to  begin  to  preach  Him. 
This  was  read  on  November  9th,  and  pleased  the  Coun- 
cil and  is  now  being  printed.  It  was  also  resolved  that 
the  abbot  of  Cappel  should  preach  Christ  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  city  across  the  Alps  [Basel  ?],  the  comtur 
[or  head  of  the  monastery]  at  Kiissnacht  around  the 
lake  [of  Zurich]  and  in  the  province  of  Grueningen 
[twelve  miles  south-east  and  about  four  miles  back  of 
east  bank  of  lake],  and  I  in  those  provinces  which  look 
toward  Schaffhausen  and  Thurgau  [the  cantons  on  the 
east  and  north  of  Zurich],  so  that  the  sheep  of  Christ 
might  not  by  anyone's  negligence  be  deprived  of  hear- 
ing the  word  of  salvation.  They  will  shortly  determine 
what  will  be  done  about  the  images,  as  soon  as  the 
people  have  been  instructed ;  and  the  same  with  regard 
to  the  mass.  In  the  meantime  we  are  to  go  on  in  our 
wonted  manner,  except  that  it  is  permitted  to  any  to  re- 
move their  private  images,  as  long  as  no  one  is  injured. 
The  prisoners  are  to  be  treated  according  to  the  high- 
est law — what  that  means  you  do  not  need  to  be  told.' 
But  this  is  reasonable,  for  it  does  not  escape  you  what 

'  The  ringleaders  and  the  pastor  of  Hongg,  three  miles  north-west 
of  Zurich,  whose  sermon  had  incited  the  iconoclasts,  were  banished. 


1525]     The  Reformation  Established     207 

sort  of  men  we  have  to  fear  at  this  time,  not  so  much 
for  the  thing  itself  as  for  the  glory  of  Christ.  For  there 
are  those  who  revolt  against  the  Gospel  of  Christ  unless 
you  yield  a  little  to  their  infirmities.  For  the  sake  of 
these  I  think  that  Lawrence  Hochrutiner  [a  leader  in  a 
cross-breaking  expedition]  has  been  treated  a  little  too 
firmly,  not  to  say  harshly;  a  good  man,  by  Hercules, 
but  punished  very  severely  because  he  has  said  too  much. 
So  he  is  compelled  to  go  away  from  here,  and  does  not 
find  any  place  in  the  whole  world  except  your  city  where 
he  can  settle.  .  .  .  Whatever  service  you  do  him 
you  will  do  to  Zwingli."  * 

The  "  brief  introduction  "  alluded  to  bears  the 
title:  "A  short  Christian  introduction  which  the 
honourable  Council  of  the  city  of  Zurich  has  sent 
to  the  pastors  and  preachers  living  in  its  cities,  lands, 
and  wherever  its  authority  extends,  so  that  they 
may  in  unison  henceforth  announce  and  preach  the 
true  Gospel  to  their  dependents."  *  It  was  prepared 
by  Zwingli  in  fourteen  days,  so  it  was  a  hasty  work 
as  usual,  and  read  before  the  Council  on  November 
9,  and  printed  November  17,  1523.  Preceding  it  is 
the  mandate  of  the  Zurich  authorities  which  com- 
mends the  "  Introduction  "  on  the  ground  of  its 
scriptural  character,  and  repeats  the  requests  to  be 
corrected  out  of  the  Scriptures,  if  they  have  in  any 
respect  not  advocated  correct  opinions.'  The  treat- 
ise is  throughout  doctrinal,  but  far  from  abstruse. 
It  begins  with  a  brief  handling  of  sin,  then  of  the 
law.  At  greater  length  it  treats  of  the  Gospel,  as 
God's  way  of  deliverance  from  the  law;  next  upon 

>  VII.,  313,  314.  «  I.,  541-565.  '  I.,  542  sg. 


2o8  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523- 

the  deliverance  itself,  the  "  removal  of  the  law." 
Next,  but  more  briefly,  upon  images.  Zwingli 
says,  in  concluding  the  section: 

"  It  is  clear  that  the  images  and  other  representations 
which  we  have  in  the  houses  of  worship  have  caused  the 
risk  of  idolatry.  Therefore  they  should  not  be  allowed 
to  remain  there,  nor  in  your  chambers,  nor  in  the  mar- 
ket-place, nor  anywhere  else  where  one  does  them 
honour.  Chiefly  they  are  not  to  be  tolerated  in  the 
churches,  for  all  that  is  in  them  should  be  worthy  of  our 
respect.  If  anyone  desires  to  put  historical  representa- 
tions on  the  outside  of  the  churches,  that  may  be  allowed, 
so  long  as  they  do  not  incite  to  their  worship.  But  when 
one  begins  to  bow  before  these  images  and  to  worship 
them,  then  they  are  not  to  be  tolerated  anywhere  in  the 
wide  world;  for  that  is  the  beginning  of  idolatry,  nay,  is 
idolatry  itself."  * 

The  closing  section,  which  is  also  comparatively 
brief,  is  upon  the  mass ;  and  mainly  an  explicit 
denial  that  the  mass  is  a  sacrifice.  It  teaches  us 
that  Christ  has  left  us  a  definite,  visible  sign  of  His 
flesh  and  blood,  and  calls  the  eating  and  drinking 
His  remembrance.  The  old  use  of  the  Eucharist 
was  an  abuse  which  should  be  abolished :  yet 
so  cautiously  that  no  disturbance  arise  therefrom. 
The  effect  of  the  second  disputation  of  this  action 
by  the  Council,  the  visit  of  the  delegates  to  the 
parishes,  and  of  Zwingli's  tractate  was  exactly  as 
he  would  have  it.  Priests  everywhere  in  the  canton 
declined    to    read  mass,   and    the   presence  of  the 

'  I.,  561  sq. 


1525]     The  Reformation  Established     209 

images  in  the  churches  was  more  and  more  con- 
sidered an  offence.  There  was,  however,  a  party 
which  honestly  deplored  these  departures  from  the 
old  order,  and  Zwingli  himself  advised  deliberation. 
The  division  in  the  chapter  of  the  Great  Minster  as 
to  the  mass  led  to  the  reference  of  the  matter  to  the 
Council  on  December  loth,  and  it  in  turn  referred  it 
to  the  three  people's  priests.  Zwingli  wrote  the 
opinion  "  '  entirely  on  the  side  of  the  proposed 
changes,  and  plainly  announced  that  on  the  coming 
Christmas  day,  Friday,  December  25,  1523,  the 
Lord's  Supper  would  be  administered  under  both 
forms,  and  daily  thereafter  there  would  be  a  brief 
Bible  exposition  in  place  of  the  daily  mass.  The 
Council,  however,  decided  to  allow  both  the  old  and 
new  forms  of  the  Eucharist  in  the  city,  and  practi- 
cally only  the  old  elsewhere  in  the  canton,  and  to 
postpone  any  revised  liturgy,*  On  December  19th, 
the  Council  replied  directly  to  the  chapter  of  the 
Great  Minster,  inviting  them  and  all  the  city  clergy 
to  a  disputation  upon  the  matters  in  dispute  in 
the  Town  Hall  on  Holy  Innocents'  day,  Monday, 
December  28th,  before  the  city  magistracy;  and 
meanwhile  the  Council  ordered  that  the  folding 
doors  which  covered  certain  pictures  in  the  cathe- 
dral should  be  closed  and  kept  closed,  and  that  no 
church  banners,  crucifixes,  or  pictures  should  be 
carried  about.  The  conference  only  resulted  in  the 
call  for  another,  between  the  representatives  of  the 
Old  Church  party  and  the  three  people's  priests,  on 

•  I.,  566-568. 

^Egli,  A.  S.,  No.  460. 


2IO  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523] 

January  19  and  20,  1524.'  Meanwhile  the  bishops 
of  Constance,  Basel,  and  Chur,  the  University  of 
Basel,  and  the  confederate  authorities  were  to  be 
asked  for  their  opinions  on  Zwingli's  "  Introduc- 
tion." 


'  I.,  568  ;  BuUinger,  i.,  139  sq. 


CHAPTER  IX 

GEROLD  MEYER  VON  KNONAU,  HUTTEN,  AND 
ERASMUS 

1523 

THE  relations  between  ZwingH  and  the  woman 
he  afterwards  married  were  probably  partly 
brought  about  by  the  fact  that  her  son  Ceroid  was 
one  of  his  pupils  in  the  Latin  school  attached  to  the 
Great  Minster.  In  the  spring  of  1521,  Ceroid, 
along  with  other  youths  who  had  enjoyed  Zwingli's 
instruction,  was  sent  to  Basel  where  he  was  put  at 
first  under  James  Nepos  ' ;  afterwards  under  Clare- 
anus.  From  Basel  he  wrote  to  Zwingli  in  Septem- 
ber, perhaps,  enthusiastically  praising  the  city  and 
its  learned  men,  and  showing  that  he  was  enjoying 
himself  in  other  than  literary  pursuits."  The  tone 
of  the  letter  is  slightly  patronising,  as  was  expected 
of  a  young  patrician  addressing  an  ordinary  man, 
even  one  whom  he  styles  his  "  master,  respected 
and  beloved  for  many  reasons,"  but  at  the  same 
time  boyishly  frank  and  affectionate.  Considered 
as  the  production  of  a  boy  only  eleven  years  old,  it 
is  remarkable.  Zwingli  seems  to  have  reciprocated 
Ceroid 's  affection;  at  all  events,  on  August  I,  1523, 
»VII.,  169. 

2  VII.,  181  sq. 

ail 


212  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523 

when  Gerold,  then  thirteen  years  old,  returned  from 
a  stay  at  the  baths  in  Baden,  about  twelve  miles 
north-west  of  Zurich,  Zwingli  took  the  trouble  to 
put  into  shape  a  little  collection  of  "  precepts  "  upon 
education  which  he  had  begun  years  before,  and  gave 
it  to  him  as  a  "  bath-present,"  it  being  customary 
then  so  to  greet  with  presents  persons  coming  from 
the  baths.  The  collection  was  afterwards  printed.' 
It  is  dedicated  to  Gerold  in  a  very  fatherly  tone. 
"  The  first  precepts  contain  how  the  tender  mind 
of  an  ingenuous  youth  may  be  instructed  in  those 
things  which  relate  to  God ;  the  second  how  in 
those  which  relate  to  himself;  the  third,  how  in 
those  which  have  regard  to  others."  " 

Judging  from  the  dedication  to  him,  Gerold  was 

'  IV.,  14S-158.  Its  popularity  is  attested  by  the  appearance  of 
numerous  editions  of  it.  It  was  written  originally  in  Latin,  and 
printed  at  Basel,  1523  ;  reprinted  in  Augsburg,  1524,  along  with 
Melanchthon's  Elenienta  Fuerilia,  and  the  same  year  by  Froschauer 
in  Zurich  ;  again  in  Basel,  in  1541,  in  a  collection  of  twenty-one 
pedagogical  papers,  but  without  Zwingli's  name,  merely,  as  "  Writ- 
ten by  a  Christian  Theologian."  In  1524  a  translation  in  Upper 
Rhine  German  appeared,  probably  at  Basel  (reprinted  by  K. 
Fulda,  Erfurt,  1844).  This  seems  to  have  stirred  up  Zwingli  to 
make  a  translation  of  his  little  book  into  the  dialect  of  Zurich,  and 
this  was  printed  by  Froschauer  in  Zurich,  1526  ;  reprinted  by  August 
Israel  in  Part  IV.  of  his  collection  of  rare  pedagogical  tracts  of  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  Zchopau,  1879  ;  and  by  E.  Egli, 
with  the  original  Latin  on  the  opposite  page,  Zurich,  1884.  An 
English  translation  of  the  treatise  from  the  Latin  was  made  by  "  Rich- 
arde  Argentyne,  Doctour  in  Physck,  imprinted  at  Ipsewich  [London] 
by  Anthony  Scoloker,  dwellyng  in  S.  Nycholas  Paryshe  Anno  1548." 
A  new  translation  on  the  basis  of  Israel's  edition  of  the  German 
was  prepared  by  Professor  Alcide  Reichenbach  of  Ursinus  College, 
and  published,  Collegeville,  Pa.,  1899. 

'  IV..  149. 


I523J    Knonau,  Hutten,  and  Erasmus    213 

a  sober-minded  and  precocious  youth   who  would 
appreciate  and  profit  by  Zwingli's  good  advice.' 

The  year  1523  was  destined  to  see  the  end  of  the 
friendship  between  ZwingH  and  Erasmus.  It  is  not 
probable  that  Erasmus  ever  had  any  affection  for 
Zwingli,  but  they  had  much  in  common.  They 
were  both  devoted  students  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
classics  and  had  many  common  friends  among  the 
Humanists.  Religiously  they  both  had  come  to  the 
truth  through  culture  and  reflection,  and  were 
strangers  to  any  violent  conversion.  They  both 
were  sociable  and  lovers  of  fun;  both  looked 
leniently  upon  the  follies  and  pleasant  vices  of  man- 
kind, while  themselves  in  maturer  years  chaste  and 
pious.  To  young  Zwingli  there  was  no  scholar  like 
Erasmus.  He  was  ready  to  make  a  long  journey 
to  sit  reverently  at  his  feet.''  Erasmus  considered 
his  pupil  agreeable  and  promising,  and  occasionally 
wrote  him  a  letter  ^ ;  but  when  Zwingli  carried  out 
to  their  logical  conclusions  the  teachings  of  Eras- 
mus, and  proposed  to  abolish  the  evils  of  the  Roman 
Church,  as  manifested  in  Zurich,  Erasmus  became 
alarmed,  claimed  that  the  time  was  not  yet  ripe 
for  action,  and  would  dissuade  Zwingli  from  doing 
anything.'  The  interest  of  the  old  scholar  was 
changing  into  indifference  when  an  event  occurred 
which  broke  up  their  friendship  abruptly  and  ab- 
solutely, namely,  Zwingli's  treatment  of  Ulrich  von 

'  Cf.  pp.  232  sqq.  for  additional  information  as  to  Ceroid. 

^  1'.  79. 
*  Pp.  80  sqq. 

••VII.,  251.  As  Strauss  truthfully  says  :  "  Humanism  was  large- 
minded,  but  faint-hearted"  {^Ulrich  von  Hiitton,  Eng.  trans.,  p.  346). 


214  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523 

Hutten,  a  man  Erasmus  hated.  Hutten  was  the 
most  picturesque  character  to  espouse  the  cause  of 
the  Reformation,  He  was  a  scion  of  a  noble  family  in 
Hesse-Cassel,  accomplished,  learned,  extremely  witty 
and  humorous,  a  fearless  fighter  for  intellectual  and 
religious  liberty,  and  one  who  deserved  well  of  the 
cause  of  the  Reformation,  which  he  embraced  with 
characteristic  ardour  though  dissipated  and  licen- 
tious. He  enjoyed  till  near  the  end  of  his  life  the 
friendship  of  Erasmus,  but  forfeited  it  by  his  vehe- 
ment attack  upon  him  as  too  cowardly  to  declare 
himself  openly  a  Lutheran,  while  really  so.  The  at- 
tack was  in  revenge  for  Erasmus's  conduct  in  not  call- 
ing upon  him  during  his  stay  of  two  months  in  Basel. 
As  is  seen  from  the  sentences  quoted  in  the  note 
below,  Hutten  appeared  at  the  house  of  Glareanus. 
Erasmus  was,  however,  wary  how  he  allied  himself 
with  one  under  the  ban,  hopelessly  in  debt,  and  also 
whose  shameful  disease  made  him  physically  loath- 
some. This  attack  turned  Erasmus  into  the  im- 
placable foe  of  Hutten,  and  of  all  who  defended  or 
aided  Hutten.  Zwingli,  as  a  Humanist,  was  of 
course  familiar  with  Hutten's  career,  and  occa- 
sional mention  of  him  occurs  in  his  correspondence.' 


'  Hutten's  name  is  first  mentioned  in  the  Zwingli  correspondence 
in  a  letter  from  William  Nesen,  dated  April,  151S,  wherein  his 
phrase  "the  citadel  of  impudence"  is  quoted  (vii.,  40),  and  it  is 
said,  "  The  latest  production  of  Hutten  is  greatly  praised  by  the 
learned"  (vii.,  41).  Next  Myconius,  on  February  20,  1520,  men- 
tions him  along  with  Erasmus,  Luther,  and  Valla,  and  other  Human- 
ists (vii.,  115).  Valentine  Curio,  a  Basel  bookseller,  in  May,  1520, 
calls  Zwingli's  attention  to  certain  dialogues  of  Hutten's  with  a  view 
to  his  buying  them  (vii.,  134).     Myconius,  on  August  21,  1520,  men- 


1523]    Knonau,  Hutten,  and  Erasmus    215 

It  appears  that  after  leaving  Basel  (January  19, 
1523)  Hutten  went  to  Mulhausen,  in  the  present 
Elsass,  eighteen  miles  north  by  west  of  Basel,  and 

tions  the  issue  of  Hutten's  literary  attack  on  the  Duke  of  Wiirtem- 
berg  (vii.,  146),  Hedio,  on  October  15,  1520,  writing  from  Mainz, 
says  :  "  Hutten  [who  had  just  been  expelled  from  Mainz  for  attack- 
ing the  Roman  Church]  lies  in  hiding,  for  whom  prison  has  been 
prepared  by  the  Romans,  who  have  issued  secret  instructions  either 
to  arrest  him  and  take  him  in  chains  to  Rome  or  else  slay  him. 
Nevertheless,  he  will  remain  hidden,  as  the  monks  perceive  to  whom 
this  promise  has  been  entrusted  :  for  they  are  the  furies  of  the  Pope" 
(vii.,  148).  In  1522,  from  Basel,  on  November  28th,  Glareanus  thus 
writes  of  him  :  "  Hutten  is  with  us,  not  an  agreeable  guest,  as  I 
think,  to  the  very  learned  man  [Erasmus].  I  have  eaten  with  him 
twice,  and  he  will  be  here  some  time.  But  the  protection  promised 
by  the  magistracy,  though  I  do  not  know  that  he  will  need  it,  yet  he 
wished  to  have  it.  Not  yet  over  his  sickness  and  in  Germany  hardly 
able  to  rest  anywhere  in  safety,  he  seeks  here  a  little  breathing  space  " 
(vii.,  247).  "  I  wish  you  were  present  some  days  at  my  house.  You 
would  see  Erasmus,  Hutten,  CEcolampadius  "  (vii.,  248).  So  Johan- 
nes Xylotectus,  writing  from  Lucern  on  December  11,  1522,  says: 
"  I  have  seen  a  letter  sent  to  a  certain  patrician  here  from  a  Baseler 
in  the  upper  walks  of  life,  in  which  the  statement  is  made  that  Hut- 
ten has  just  now  arrived  at  Basel,  along  with  him  [CEcolampadius], 
who  was  on  intimate  terms  with  Franz  von  Sickingen  "  (vii.,  252). 
Henry  Eppendorf,  writing  from  Basel  sometime  in  December, 
1522,  says  :  "Your  book  presented  by  Christopher  [Froschauer,  the 
printer  of  Zurich]  to  my  library,  and  in  which  you  most  wisely  coun- 
sel the  German  princes  against  the  deceit  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  I 
have  perused  most  eagerly,  and  have  let  Ulrich  von  Hutten,  that 
unique  defender  of  religion  and  liberty  in  Germany,  read  it  also  " 
(vii.,  259).  Otho  Brunfels,  a  friend  of  Hutten's,  under  date  of  Feb- 
ruary 13,  1523,  from  Nuremberg,  writes  :  "  Our  Hutten  is  in  bad 
shape  and  we  others  are  indiscriminately  overthrown"  (vii.,  273). 
OLcolampadius,  writing  from  Basel  on  June  16,  1523,  says  :  "  I  ask 
you  to  forward  this  parcel  to  that  beloved  knight,  Ulrich  von  Hut- 
ten" (vii.,  301),  and  on  July  8,  "  Greet  for  me,  I  pray  you,  my  lord 
Hutten,  and  tell  him  that  letters  have  lately  come  to  me  for  him" 
(vii.,  301). 


2i6  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523 

lay  hidden  there  for  some  months  in  the  Augustinian 
monastery.  But  so  pugnacious  and  reckless  an  op- 
ponent of  the  Roman  Church  could  not  keep  quiet. 
From  Miilhausen  he  issued  his  "  Expostulation" 
with  Erasmus.  This  revealed  his  presence  to  the 
Old  Church  party  and  they  threatened  his  life.  The 
City  Council  prudently  advised  him  to  withdraw, 
and  about  the  middle  of  July  he  left  one  night  and 
fled  to  Zurich,  which  in  a  straight  line  was  sixty 
miles  south-east.  There  Zwingli  with  characteristic 
kindness  befriended  him,'  and  for  the  benefit  of  his 
health  sent  him  to  Pfaefers,  with  a  letter  of  recom- 
mendation to  the  abbot,  who  was  a  friend  of  the 
Reformation.  The  healing  springs  in  the  gorge 
beneath  the  village  were  then  and  are  to-day  famous. 
But  Hutten  could  not  be  cured  and  so  turned  back 
towards   Zurich.'     Zwingli    then    sent   him    to  the 


'  Blarer  writes  from  Constance  on  July  27,  1523  :  "  Commend  me 
to  Hutten,  who  I  hear  is  with  you.  That  '  Expostulation '  of  his 
with  Erasmus,  just  published,  shows  us  pleasantly  and  intimately  if 
anything  ever  did  that  German  mind  of  his,  so  that  it  is  a  great  grief 
to  us  that  the  health  of  that  truly  Christian  man  is  so  little  firm, 
whereas  it  ought  to  be  adamantine"  (vii.,  305). 

*  On  his  way,  probably,  from  Einsiedeln,  where  he  rested,  he  sent 
Zwingli  this  letter,  the  only  one  of  his  to  Zwingli  which  has  been 
preserved  ;  it  has  no  date,  but  must  have  been  written  in  July  or 
August,  1523  :  "I  derived  no  benefit  from  the  baths  of  Pfaefers, 
because  they  are  not  hot  enough.  It  seems  that  the  labour  and 
peril  to  which  I  have  gone  have  been  of  no  avail  for  the  recovery  of 
my  health "  [This  is  an  allusion  to  the  fact  that  at  times  invalids 
had  to  climb  down  hanging  ladders  into  the  gloomy  gorge  wherein 
the  springs  are,  or  to  be  let  down  by  ropes.  Cf.  Strauss's  Hutten, 
Eng.  trans.,  p.  352].  It  cannot  be  told  with  what  kindness  and  lib- 
erality the  abbot  [of  Pfaefers  ;  tlie  monastery  where  Hutten  stopped 
was  in  the  village  of  Pfaefers,  on  a  high  hill,  and  directly  over  the 


THE  TAMINA  GORGE  IN  WHICH    BAD  PFAFERS  IS  LOCATED. 


1523]    Knonau,  Hutten,  and  Erasmus    217 

island  of  Ufnau,  opposite  Rappersvvyl,  towards  the 
extreme  eastern  end  of  the  Lake  of  Zurich,  some 
twenty-two  miles  from  Zurich,  where  the  pastor, 
Hans  Schnei^g,  a  canon  of  Einsiedeln,  was  also  a 
skilful  physician. 

On  August  loth,  Erasmus  wrote  to  the  City 
Council  of  Zurich  to  be  on  their  guard  against 
the  insolence  of  Hutten,  and  because  it  might  work 
great  harm  to  the  city,  he  advised  them  to  put  a 
curb  on  the  dangerous  man.  When  Hutten  heard 
of  this  letter  he  asked  the  Council  to  communi- 
cate its  contents  to  him,  that  he  might  answer  it, 
and  claimed  that  he  had  from  boyhood  led  a  life 
of  virtue  and  piety,  which  was  untrue!  On  Au- 
gust 31st,  Erasmus  wrote  directly  to  Zwingli*;  and 
never  again  except  in   the   form   of  a  dedication." 


deep  gorge  just  mentioned]  treated  me.  On  this  account  you  will  give 
him  my  thanks  when  you  write  him.  In  me  he  favoured  you  and 
the  comtur  [Schmidt  of  Kiissnacht].  When  I  left,  he  begged  me 
earnestly  to  spend  some  weeks  with  him.  He  also  furnished  me 
horses  and  provisions  for  the  journey  [from  the  monastery  to  Zurich, 
which  might  take  for  so  sick  a  man  as  Hutten  at  least  a  couple  of 
days].  He  advised  me  to  visit  the  baths  again  sometime  ;  for  the 
cause  of  their  doing  me  no  good  now,  was  the  rain  which  fell  all 
these  days  and  mingled  itself  with  the  baths.  Cold  water  was  never 
wanting,  either  falling  from  the  sky,  or  lately  flowing  from  the  rocks 
in  torrents  so  as  to  threaten  my  little  bath-house.  Thus  much  about 
the  baths,  where  I  have  been  told  Nicholas  Prugner  has  come  from 
Miilhausen,  besides  letters  for  me.  Write  and  tell  me  how  matters 
are,  and  if  there  are  letters  for  me,  have  them  forwarded.  Also 
inform  me  what  provision  you  have  made  for  my  entertainment :  for 
I  would  have  moved  thither  to-day  if  I  had  not  been  uncertain  where 
I  was  to  go.  I  do  not  doubt  but  that  you  will  not  have  failed  me  in 
the  matter.  Whatever  it  is,  inform  me,  and  farewell"  (vii.,  302), 
'VII.,  307-310.  2  VII.,  310. 


2i8  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523 

In  carefully  chosen  words  he  defended  himself 
against  the  common  report  that  he  was  a  trimmer, 
and  coming  at  last  to  the  point  he  thus  delivered 
himself: 

"  Hutten's  *  Expostulation  '  has  not  been  withdrawn, 
at  least  not  until  it  had  been  widely  spread  abroad  and 
many  copies  of  it  had  gone  into  circulation.  I  do  in- 
deed not  grudge  him  the  favour  of  your  citizens.  I 
wonder  none  the  less  on  what  account  they  bestow  their 
favour  on  him.  As  to  a  Lutheran  ?  But  no  one  has 
more  thwarted  the  cause  of  the  Gospel.  For  good  let- 
ters ?  But  no  one  has  so  hurt  that  cause.  That  little 
book  of  his,  written  without  cause  against  a  friend,  will 
call  forth  much  hostility  to  the  German  name.  What  is 
more  barbarous  than  to  make  so  many  false  charges 
against  a  friend  who  wishes  well  to  him,  and  has  de- 
served well  of  him  ?  I  know  that  he  was  influenced 
from  an  outside  source,  and  that  this  has  been  pushed 
by  some  in  order  to  extort  money  from  my  friends. 
Concerning  his  other  deeds  I  will  say  nothing;  they  are 
sufficiently  notorious,  but  even  pirates  cherish  true 
friendship.  I  replied  to  him.  More  properly  I  did  not 
reply,  but  repelled  an  impudent  calumny.  The  cause  of 
the  Gospel  and  of  good  letters  influences  me  more  than 
the  injury  to  myself.  I  do  not  value  the  friendship  of 
those  who  delight  in  such  a  disposition.  Everybody  is 
sure  that  this  raging  of  his  has  you  for  instigator,  how- 
ever you  evade  the  issue.  He  can  bring  much  evil  to 
your  city,  but  no  good.  And  further,  Qicolampadius 
declared  that  he  had  enlarged  his  evil-spoken  book. 
Still  I  see  the  real  fact;  he  will  go  on  raging,  not  so 
much  to  my  injury  as  to  that  of  good  letters.  But  if  he 
does  not  stop  gnashing  his  teeth  on  a  fragile  bit,  he  will 


1523]    Knonau,  Hutten,  and  Erasmus    219 

strike  something  solid.  You  will  use  your  influence  to 
restrain  the  man,  if  you  see  that  it  is  for  the  interests  of 
polite  literature  and  of  the  Gospel  and  of  the  German 
name — for  nowadays  the  people  call  everybody  a  German 
who  uses  the  German  language.  .  .  .  What  our 
Hilarius  said,  that  Hutten's  book  could  be  printed  be- 
cause you  allowed  it,  he  said  of  his  own  volition,  not  at 
my  command.     Farewell." 

On  August  15th,  Hutten's  second  attack  on  Eras- 
mus, which  was  not  calculated  to  make  matters  bet- 
ter, appeared,  and  in  two  weeks  thereafter  (August 
31st)  Hutten  died.  He  was  just  past  his  thirty-fifth 
birthday.  He  was  buried  on  Ufnau,  but  the  place 
is  now  unknown.' 

But  for  befriending  Hutten,  or  rather  for  sharing 
the  views  of  Hutten,  as  expressed  in  his  attacks, 

'  Zwingli  thus  wrote  about  Hutten's  affairs,  October  ii,  1523: 
"  Hutten  had  some  debts  here  also,  and  all  his  goods  were  not 
enough  to  pay  them.  Therefore,  he  left  nothing  of  any  value.  Jle 
had  no  books,  and  no  furniture  except  a  pen.  Of  his  effects  I  saw 
nothing  after  his  death  except  some  letters  which  he  had  received 
from  his  friends,  or  sent  to  them,  and  which  he  had  sewed  together. 
A  short  time  ago  there  was  a  man  here  who  brought  a  letter  to  him 
who  is  dead,  which  I  sent  to  Henry  Eppendorf.  From  him  I  learn 
that  there  was  some  hope  for  the  creditors  of  Hutten.  WTierefore 
if  you  can  meet  Eppendorf,  tell  him  to  give  his  aid  and  counsel  in 
this  matter.  I  have  no  advice  to  give  beyond  this.  He  owed  me 
three  gold-pieces  and  the  comtur  at  Kussnacht  twenty.  But  let 
me  not  forget  to  say  the  courier  said  :  That  there  remained  from  the 
wreck  of  Hutten's  affairs  two  hundred  gold-pieces  which  Eppendorf 
would  perhaps  receive.  I  then  wrote  to  Eppendorf  on  behalf  of  the 
comtur,  but  so  far  have  received  no  reply.  I  ask,  therefore,  that 
if  you  should  receive  any  hope,  you  will  indicate  that  his  dues  also 
should  be  paid.  I  do  not  worry  about  what  is  due  me  ;  if  anything 
comes  to  me,  I  will  receive  it ;  if  not  well  and  good  "  (vii.,  313). 


220  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1523 

Erasmus  had  only  scorn.  Still  he  did  not  at  once 
break  with  Zwingli,  but  dedicated  to  him  his 
"  Sponge  to  wipe  off  the  aspersions  of  Hutten," 
his  reply  to  Hutten's  first  attack,  in  a  courteous 
epistle,'  and  then  ceased  to  write  to  him.  Zwingli 
deplored  this  estrangement,^  but  it  was  inevitable. 
And  the  break  with  Erasmus  was  accompanied  with 
the  loss  of  the  friendship  of  Glareanus,^  who  was  the 
shadow  of  Erasmus  and  shared  his  religious  views. 
This  fact  comes  out  in  the  letter  Zwingli,  on  May 
28,  1525,  wrote  to  Vadianus: 

"  When  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam  received  my  com- 
mentary ["On  the  true  and  false  religion"]  he  exclaimed, 
as  a  friend  of  his  reports:  '  My  good  Zwingli,  what  do 
you  write  that  I  have  not  first  written  ?  '  I  tell  you  this 
that  you  may  see  how  far  self-esteem  can  carry  us.  Would 
that  Erasmus  had  treated  my  arguments  with  his  pen! 
The  world  would  then  have  been  persuaded,  so  that  I 
should  not  labour  under  such  a  burden  of  enmity.  I 
always  preferred  to  stay  in  the  background;  but  the 
Lord  did  not  wish  it,  and  His  will  be  done.  Would  that 
the  name  of  Erasmus  had  been  attached  to  my  book! 
Then  shamefacedness  would  not  have  held  me  in  its 
bonds,  nor  the  fear  of  vainglory.  I  thus  speak  before 
the  Lord:  After  my  writings  have  been  read  by  all,  I 
would  wish  that  my  name  should  fall  into  oblivion. 
Glareanus  rages  against  me,  and  takes  all  measures  not 

'  VII.,  310,  311. 

^  See  his  kind  remarks  about  Erasmus,  viii.,  174,  175. 

°  It  is  noteworthy  that  not  a  single  letter  to  Glareanus  appears  in 
the  Zwingli  correspondence.  After  the  rupture  Glareanus  may  have 
destroyed  them.  The  last  letter  of  Glareanus  preserved  is  dated 
February  14,  1523  (vii.  270,  271),  and  is  very  friendly. 


1523]    Knonau,  Hutten,  and  Erasmus    221 

only  against  me,  but  also  against  Qi^colampadius.  See 
how  the  thoughts  of  the  heart  are  revealed,  when  Mary, 
/.  e.,  those  who  are  Christ's  mother,  sister,  and  brother, 
are  stricken  with  the  sword  of  persecution.  Who  would 
have  thought  that  there  was  in  the  former  [Erasmus]  so 
great  a  desire  for  glory,  and  in  the  latter  [Glareanus]  so 
much  of  malignity  and  venom!  The  most  learned  men 
everywhere  congratulate  the  Swiss;  and  a  Swiss  [Glare- 
anus]  chafes  because  of  Zvvingli."  ' 

'  As  indicating  the  way  in  whicli  Erasmus  was  later  spoken  of  by 
(Ecolampadius,  see  his  letter  of  January  15,  1530,  to  Zwingli,  viii., 
395. 


CHAPTER   X 

THE   REFORMATION  IN  ZURICH   COMPLETED 
1524 

THE  year  1524  marked  the  completion  of  the 
break  with  the  Old  Church  as  far  as  Zurich 
was  concerned.  The  changes  were  made  deliber- 
ately and  under  orders  from  the  City  Council. 
They  occasioned  no  revolt,  although  they  were  of 
the  most  radical  description.  It  was  made  to  ap- 
pear that  the  changes  came  in  consequence  of  the 
city  authorities*  conviction  of  their  scripturalness, 
and  not  because  Zwingli  had  insisted  upon  them. 
Nor  was  a  step  taken  without  the  approval  before- 
hand of  the  thoughtful  classes.  Zwingli  and  his 
fellow  Reformers  argued  before  the  people  the  pro- 
priety of  the  changes  about  to  be  made.  Then 
when  a  sufficient  time  had  elapsed  a  public  debate, 
was  held  in  the  presence  of  the  City  Council,  and^i 
then  the  Council  ordered  the  changes.  The  conse-^ 
quence  was  the  changes  were  made  once  for  all, 
were  fully  comprehended,  and  gladly  assented  to. 
By  this  course  Zwingli  proved  his  title  to  be  called 
}  the  Prudent  Reformer.  Granted  that  it  was  the 
clear-sightedness  of  the  prayerful  scholar  rather  than 
spiritual  elevation  which  gave  him  the  knowledge  of 
the  objectionable  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  Old 

222 


1524]     The  Reformation  Completed      223 

Church,  he  showed  true  courage  in  opposing  and 
removing  them  ;  granted  that  he  was  totally  lacking 
in  Luther's  flaming  zeal,  he  accomplished  a  much 
more  complete  break  with  Rome ;  granted  that  he 
was  no  profound  thinker  like  Calvin,  he  was  much 
more  easily  comprehended  and  probably  quite  as 
correct.  And  in  personal  qualities  he  was  superior 
to  Luther  and  Calvin.  Men  loved  Zwingli,  and  fol- 
lowed him  because  they  loved  him.  They  knew 
that  he  spoke  the  truth  in  the  breadth  of  a  loving 
heart ;  that  he  broke  with  Rome  because  he  loved 
the  truth  more  than  life,  and  loathed  the  whole  mis- 
erable business  of  mediaeval  hair-splitting  theology, 
lying  pardons,  swindling  sacraments,  the  incubus 
of  a  Church  which  was  primarily  a  huge  money- 
making  concern,  ruled  by  a  Pope  no  spiritual  man 
had  any  respect  for  and  served  by  a  clergy  who  as 
a  class  were  low-bred  and  low-lived,  preached  by 
monks  whose  private  histories  were  unsavoury,  and 
sanctified,  forsooth,  by  nuns  who  were  virgin  only 
in  name.  His  heart  made  him  protest.  It  could 
no  longer  be  borne;  the  Church  was  pressing  the 
life  out  of  the  poor  people  and  sending  them  by 
millions  to  the  bar  of  God  without  any  knowledge 
of  God's  Word,  or  any  preparation  for  His  service. 
Pursuant  to  the  order  of  the  Council,  on  Tuesday 
and  Wednesday,  January  19  and  20,  1524,  Canon 
Hofmann,  chief  representative  of  the  Old  Party 
among  the  priesthood,  met  the  three  people's 
priests,  and  six  theologians  and  six  councillors,  in 
private  sessions,  and  attempted  to  defend  the  old 
usages.     But  the  commission  decided  that  he  had 


,  and 
lurchy 
e  re-| 


224  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524 

not  made  out  his  points  from  Scripture,  and  so  the 
Council  voted  that  the  canons  must  give  outward 
assent  to  the  Council's  orders  or  leave  the  city.' 

With  this  last  desperate  attempt  the  Old  Party 
closed  their  efforts,  and  there  was  no  further  formal 
opposition  in  Zurich  to  the  Reformation.  One  by 
one,  as  the  people  were  fully  able  to  stand  it,  and 
understand  it,  those  practices  of  the  Old  Chi 
which  Zwingli  considered  objectionable  were 
moved.  The  saints'  days  passed  unobserved ;  the 
procession  to  Einsiedeln  which  had  taken  place  an- 
nually on  Monday  after  Pentecost  (that  year  May 
i6th),  and  which  was  made  much  of,  was  perman- 
ently abolished,  by  order  of  Council,  the  preced- 
ing Saturday ' ;  the  reliques  were  by  similar  order, 
June  15th,  taken  from  the  churches  and  reverently 
buried;  the  organs  were  removed  and  the  ringing 
of  the  church  bells  during  a  tempest,  even  the  toll- 
ing for  funerals,  stopped.  Masses  for  the  dead, 
processions  of  clergy,  payment  for  confession,  bless- 
ing of  palms,  holy  water,  candles,  and  extreme 
unction,  all  became  things  of  the  past.'  The  re- 
moval of  the  pictures,  statues,  images,  and  other  or- 
naments from  the  churches  was  accomplished  in  the 
city  between  Saturday,  July  2d,  and  Sunday,  July 
17th.  Similar  scenes  took  place  all  over  the  can- 
ton. The  next  step,  and  one  which  like  the  others 
was  carefully  weighed,  was  the  abolition  of  the  con- 
vents and   monasteries  in   the  city  and   canton  of 

>  Bullinger,  i.,  139-142  ;  Egli,  A.  S.,  Nos.  483,  486,  489. 
«Egli,  A.  S.,  No.  527. 
^Jbid.,  Nos.  544,  546,  547. 


1524]     The  Reformation  Completed      225 

Zurich.'  This  was  determined  upon  on  December 
3,  1524.  All  the  monks  were  gathered  into  the 
Franciscan  monastery,  and  the  Dominicans  and 
Augustinians  were  not  allowed  to  return  to  their 
old  homes.  Most  of  them  decided  to  leave  the  mon- 
astery and  make  their  living  as  best  they  might. 
The  nuns  of  the  Oetenbach  and  Selnau  convents 
had  already  been  united  in  the  former  building." 
The  convent  attached  to  the  Frau  Miinster,  through 
its  abbess,  on  December  5th,  surrendered  itself  to 
the  city,  and  that  attached  to  the  Great  Minster 
on  December  20th.  The  revenue  of  the  latter  was 
appropriated  at  Zwingli's  suggestion  to  a  classical 
school  of  high  grade,  and  generally  speaking  that 
which  came  to  the  city  from  such  sources  to  good 
purposes,  as  relief  of  the  poor  or  sick.' 

So  when  1524  closed,  about  the  only  reminder  of 
the  old  order  was  the  mass,  which  was  allowed  a 
little  longer  existence.  But  it  was  evident  that  its 
days  were  numbered.  The  heart  and  soul  of  these 
changes  was  Zwingli>  and  their  completion  filled  him 
with  joy  and  thanksgiving.  While  they  were  going 
on,  he  was  incessantly  occupied  out  of  his  study,  so 
that  the  literary  labours  of  the  year  are  compara- 
tively small.     First  comes  his  expanded  sermon  on 


'  Bullinger,  i.,  228-230. 

*  The  Dominican  monastery  was  later  made  a  hospital,  and  its 
church  the  fourth  parish  church  ;  the  Augustinian  a  kitchen  for  the 
preparation  of  food  for  the  poor,  and  the  Franciscan  the  place  where 
it  was  dispensed  ;  the  nunnery  of  Selnau  a  house  of  correction,  that 
of  Oetenbach  an  orphanage. 

*The  "opinion"  of  Zwingli  the  Council  followed  (ii.,  2,  327  sj.). 


226  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524 

"  The  Shepherd,"  which  has  been  already  alluded 
to';  next  his  remarks,  or  marginal  notes,  upo^'the 
address  of  the  bishops  of  Constance,  Basel,  and 
Lausanne  to  the  Swiss  Diet  at  Lucerne,  April  i, 
1524';  next  his  earnest  and  eloquent  plea,  ad- 
dressed to  the  Swiss  Diet,  not  to  continue  the  mer- 
cenary traffic'  His  text  was  the  dreadful  news  of 
the  decimation  of  the  Swiss  mercenaries  by  war  and 
famine  in  Italy  which  had  just  reached  Switzerland. 
But  there  was  too  much  money  in  the  business  for 
it  to  be  given  up.  He  issued  the  address  in  May 
anonymously,  concealing  even  the  place  of  publica- 
tion, in  order  to  allay  suspicion.  His  plea  found 
few  hearers.  On  June  25th  he  defended  himself* 
against  the  curious  slander  that  he  derived  his 
knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  from  a  certain  Jew  of 
Winterthur,  named  Moses,  as  if  that  could  make 
any  difference.  He  got  the  Jew  to  deny  the  charge 
in  very  emphatic  language.  He  confesses,  how- 
ever, to  a  knowledge  of  Hebrew  and  that  he  had 
debated  with  this  Jew  on  the  Messianic  prophecies. 
In  the  same  tract  he  refutes  another  slander,  viz., 
that  he  had  in  a  sermon  denied  the  divinity  and 
atonement  of  Christ. 

On  the  reception  of  the  good  news  that  the  county 
of  the  Toggenburg,  in  which  he  was  born,  had  ac- 
cepted the  Reformation,  he  wrote  the  Council  of 
the  county  a  congratulatory  epistle,  which  was  after- 
wards separately  published  in  two  editions.* 

'  P.  205.  '  II.,  2,  307-311. 

*II.,  2,  315-321  ;  in  modern  German  by  Christoffel,  Zurich,  1843. 
*II.,  2,  322-326.  *VII.,  352-356. 


1524]     The  Reformation  Completed      227 

The  only  lengthy  work  of  the  year  was  his  so- 
call#d  Antibolon,  the  preface  to  which  was  dated 
August  i8th;  an  attack  upon  Jerome  Emser,  "  de- 
fender of  the  canon  of  the  mass,"  '  i.  e.,  that  part 
of  the  mass  which  contains  the  fixed  rule  according 
to  which  it  is  administered  :  in  it  the  transubstantia- 
tion  formula  occurs.  Emser  had  published  at  Dres- 
den in  the  preceding  year  a  tract  with  that  title.* 
Zwingli,  just  as  Luther  and  Melanchthon,  both  of 
whom  wrote  against  Emser,  has  the  bad  taste  to 
pun  upon  his  name,  which  means"  goat."  Zwingli 
treats  Emser  as  insultingly  as  he  alleges  Emser 
treated  him.  The  tract  is  only  to  a  small  degree 
taken  up  with  the  mass,  but  in  greater  part  with  the 
Church,^  Intercession  of  Saints,  Merit,  and  Purga- 
tory. On  November  i6th  he  issued  an  epistle  on 
the  Lord's  Supper,*  in  which  he  shows  plainly  that  he 
was  settling  upon  those  views  which  he  afterwards 
more  distinctly  enunciated  and  was  already  com- 
pletely emancipated  from  the  spell  of  the  mass;  and 
on  December  i6th  he  replied  at  length  to  his  Strass- 
burg  sympathisers,  who  submitted  to  him  certain 
knotty  questions,^  viz.,  what  should  be  their  attitude 


'  III.,  121-144.  The  word  antiboblon  is  late  legal  Greek  for  a 
formal  reply.  See  Sophocles'  Lexicon,  sub  voce.  Zwingli  may  have 
intended  to  use  it,  or  else  he  made  a  slip  in  gender. 

'  Cano7iis  Alissa  contra  Huldricun  Zrvinglium  Defensio,  1523. 
The  editors  of  Zwingli's  works  could  not  find  a  copy  (iii.,  121). 
That  in  my  library  is  a  small  quarto  of  sixty-two  unnumbered 
pages,  and  written  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue. 

**  A  valuable  summary  of  his  opinion  on  this  subject,  pp.  134  sqq. 

*III.,  591-603. 

MIL,  615-626. 


228  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524 

toward  an  unbelieving  magistracy  ?  whether  the 
magistracy  had  the  right  to  remove  those  who 
neither  preached  nor  practised  the  Gospel  ?  whether 
the  marriage  with  the  wife  of  a  paternal  uncle  was 
allowable  ?  what  was  his  opinion  on  baptism  and 
the  Eucharist  ?  To  the  first  question  he  replied : 
obediepce  and  proper  respect;  to  the  second,  yes; 
to  the  third,  no.  In  conclusion  he  gives  his  views 
upon  the  two  sacraments,  first  on  baptism.  He 
defends  the  baptism  of  infants.  In  regard  to  the 
Eucharist,  he  perceives  that  Carlstadt  had  stirred 
them  up,  and  cautiously  expresses  himself  on  his 
side  as  far  as  the  denial  of  the  corporal  presence 
was  concerned. 

The  longest  and  most  earnest,  as  well  as  the  last 
paper  of  the  year,  was  called  forth  by  the  confusion 
and  excesses  incident  to  the  religious  upheaval.  It 
appeared,  appropriately,  upon  Innocents'  Day  (De- 
cember 28th),'  and  refutes  the  charge  that  the 
Reformation  can  properly  be  charged  with  these 
occurrences;  specifically  with  the  Peasant  War; 
rather  the  oppressive  ecclesiastical  and  civil  rulers 
were  to  blame  for  furnishing  their  occasion.  It 
was  addressed  to  the  church  at  Miilhausen,  near 
Basel,  which  had  just  gone  over  to  the  Reformation 
and  so  had  just  been  exposed  to  the  same  threats 
as  Zurich. 

One  more  step  remained  to  be  taken  and  the 
church  in  Zurich  would  be  completely  emancipated 
from  the  Old  Church,  and  that  was  to  abolish  entirely 

■  II.,  I,  376-425,  Modern  German  translation  by  Christoffel, 
Zurich,  1846. 


1525]     The  Reformation  Completed      229 

the  mass.  Cautiously,  but  without  retrogression, 
Zvvingli  had  for  years  steadily  moved  towards 
this  goal.  In  1524  he  had  won  from  the  Council 
permission  for  the  priests  to  dispense  the  bread  and 
wine  under  both  forms  if  they  would.  This,  how- 
ever, still  maintained  the  connection  with  the  old 
forms.  Judging  that  the  time  had  come,  and  know- 
ing that  the  friends  of  the  ecclesiastical  overturning 
were  in  decided  majority  in  the  Council  of  the  Two 
Hundred,  Zwingli  and  several  other  leaders  ap- 
peared before  the  Council  on  Tuesday,  April  11, 
1525, — Tuesday  of  Holy  Week, — and  demanded  the 
abolition  of  the  mass  and  the  substitution  therefor  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  as  described  by  the  evangelists 
and  the  Apostle  Paul.  Opposition  being  made  to 
the  proposition,  the  Council  delegated  its  debate 
with  Zwingli  to  four  of  themselves,  and  their  report 
being  on  Zwingli's  side,  the  Council  ordered  that 
the  mass  be  abolished  forthwith.'  Consequently, 
on  Thursday,  April  13,  1525,  the  first  evangelical 
communion  service  took  place  in  the  Great  Minster, 
and  according  to  Zwingli's  carefully  thought  out 
arrangement,  which  he  had  published  April  6th. 
A  table  covered  with  a  clean  linen  cloth  was  set  be- 
tween the  choir  and  the  nave  in  the  Great  Minster. 
Upon  it  were  the  bread  upon  wooden  platters  and 
the  wine  in  wooden  beakers.  The  men  and  the 
women  in  the  congregation  were  upon  opposite  sides 
of  the  middle  aisle.  Zwingli  preached  a  sermon  and 
offered  prayer.  The  deacon  read  Paul's  account  of 
the  institution  of  the  sacrament  in  I.  Cor.,  xi.,  20  sqq. 

'  II.,  2,  232. 


230  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525] 

Then  Zwingli  and  his  assistants  and  the  congrega- 
tion performed  a  liturgy,  entirely  without  musical 
accompaniment  in  singing,  but  translated  into  the 
Swiss  dialect  from  the  Latin  mass  service,  with  the 
introduction  of  appropriate  Scripture  and  the  en- 
tire elimination  of  the  transubstantiation  teaching." 
The  elements  were  passed  by  the  deacons  through 
the  congregation.  This  Eucharist  service  was  re- 
peated upon  the  two  following  days.^ 

The  impression  made  upon  many  by  this  service,  so 
radically  different  from  the  Latin  one  to  which  they 
were  accustomed,  was  at  first  painful,  but  as  a  class 
the  Zurichers  accepted  it  and  saw  without  protest 
the  removal  of  the  altar,  now  meaningless,  since 
there  was  no  sacrifice,  and  of  the  organ,  now  use- 
less, since  there  was  no  longer  to  be  music  in  the 
churches.' 


'  The  liturgy  is  given,  ii.,  2,  235-242. 

«  Cf.  Bullinger,  i.,  264. 

^  For  description  of  the  services  in  the  churches  and  further 
references  to  the  religious  life  in  Zurich  see  closing  part  of 
Chapter  XIII.  Zwingli  prepared  the  way  for  each  step  and  did 
his  best  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  his  course  by  his  writings 
of  1525.  He  took  especial  pains  to  let  his  eucharistic  teaching  be 
known.  In  1523  he  published,  all  in  Latin,  "An  Attempt  {Epichiresis) 
on  the  Mass-canon"  (iii.,  83-116) ;  in  1524  he  replied  to  Eraser's  reply 
on  the  Mass-canon  (iii.,  121-144)  ;  in  March,  1525,  he  brought  out 
his  very  long  "  Commentary  on  the  True  and  False  Religion"  (iii., 
147-325),  dedicated,  strangely  enough,  to  Francis  I.,  King  of  France, 
in  which  he  goes  over  all  the  topics  of  practical  theology  (see  list, 
p.  153  sq.),  and  of  which  he  issued  separately  the  section  on  the 
Eucharist  in  a  German  version  ;  on  August  17,  1525,  he  published 
his  "Crown  of  the  Eucharist"  (iii.,  327-356).  He  issued  also  on 
the  subject  minor  tractates  in  German,  and  probably  wrote  many 
private  letters. 


CHAPTER    XI 

PUBLIC   MARRIAGE   AND   LETTERS   OF    1 524 
1524 

THE  great  event  in  Zwingli's  life  in  1524  was  his 
public  marriage.  His  bride  was  Anna  Rein- 
hard,  widow  of  Hans  Meyer  von  Knonau,  a  scion  of 
the  principal  patrician  house  of  Zurich,  who,  how- 
ever, owing  to  circumstances,  brought  him  very 
little  money.  The  event  gave  great  satisfaction  to 
Zwingli's  many  friends,  who  for  a  long  time  had 
been  troubled  at  his  singular  course,  for  he  had 
since  the  early  part  of  1522  considered  and  treated 
Anna  Reinhard  as  his  wife,  but  for  some  reason  had 
never  publicly  acknowledged  her  as  such. 

Here  is  a  fitting  place  to  tell  with  some  detail  the 
story  of  Anna  Reinhard.' 

Her  ancestors  came  from  St.  Gall,  but  her  grand- 
father received  citizenship  in  Zurich  in  1432,  and 
there  she  was  born  in  1484.  Her  father  became 
proprietor  of  the  inn  Zum  Weissen  Rossli,  on  the 
Sonnenquai,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Limmat,  just 


'  For  the  facts,  along  with  much  romance  and  irrelevant  matter, 
see  Salomon  Hess,  Anna  Reinhard,  2d  ed.,  Zurich,  1820;  Zwing- 
liana,  1900,  No.  2,  pp.  161-163.  It  is  noteworthy  that  Myconius, 
in  his  life  of  Zwingli,  does  not  say  a  word  about  Zwingli's  mar- 
riage. 

231 


232  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524 

under  the  Great  Minster,  in  1487.'  She  was  a  girl 
of  ravishing  beauty  and  won  the  attentions  of  the 
young  patrician  Hans  Meyer  von  Knonau,  who  was 
six  years  older  than  she,  being  born  in  1478,  and 
his  father's  only  son.  To  the  disgust  of  his  father 
he  married  her  in  1504,  and  in  consequence  his 
father  dispossessed  him.  This  treatment  did  not 
injure  Hans  in  the  estimation  of  his  fellow-towns- 
men, for  in  1 5 10  he  became  a  member  of  the  Great 
Council,  in  151 1  a  city  judge,  and  carried  the  Zurich 
banner  in  the  battle  of  Novara  in  15 13,  in  which 
Zwingli  was.  He  also  retained  the  good-will  of  his 
cousin  the  Bishop  of  Constance.  Three  children 
were  the  result  of  his  marriage:  Margaretha,  born 
1505,  twice  married,  1527  to  Anton  Wirz,  who  was 
killed  in  the  battle  of  Cappel,  October  11,  1531; 
later  to  Hans  Escher;  died  1549;  Agatha,  born 
1507,  married,  1528,  Hans  Balthasar  Keller,  a  dis- 
tinguished man,  who  died  in  1554;  and  Ceroid, 
born  October  25,  1509;  married  at  16  to  Kiingolt 
Dietschi,  a  daughter  of  a  city  councillor,  a  girl  of  the 
same  age  ;  became  a  member  of  the  Two  Hundred 
and  supported  Zwingli;  shared  Zwingli's  tastes  and 
once  played  a  principal  part  in  a  performance  of  a 
comedy  of  Aristophanes  in  the  original  Greek;  died 
on  the  battle-field  of  Cappel,  at  Zwingli's  side,  Octo- 
ber II,  1531.  Hans  died  in  Zurich  on  November  26, 
1 5 17.  A  few  years  before  (perhaps  in  15 13)  little 
Gerold  had  been  adopted  by  his  grandfather  as 
heir  and  taken  to  live  in  his  house,  where  he  con- 


'  Voegelin,  Das  Alte  Zurich,  2d  ed,,  i.,  239. 


1524]      Public  Marriage  and  Letters       233 

tinued  to  live  after  the  grandfather's  death  in  1518 
until  his  step-grandmother's  death  in  1520,  when  he 
went  back  to  his  mother.  But  as  in  15 12  the  grand- 
father had  sold  his  estate  of  Knonau  to  the  city  of 
Zurich,  Ceroid  inherited  less  real  property  than 
he  otherwise  should.  After  her  husband's  death 
Anna  Reinhard  continued  to  live  with  her  two 
daughters  in  the  "  Hofli "  house  near  the  Great 
Minster.  So  when  Zwingli  came  to  Zurich  in  I5i9> 
he  found  the  beautiful  Anna,  a  widow  of  a  little 
more  than  a  year's  standing,  living  in  his  parish, 
and  quite  near  his  house,  which  was  in  the  church 
courtyard,  while  her  son,  a  promising  lad,  was  in 
the  school  attached  to  his  church,  and  shortly  after 
became  one  of  his  pupils.  To  one  of  Zwingli's  ardent 
temperament  it  may  have  been  a  case  of  love  at  first 
sight.  How  soon  intimacy  sprang  up  between  them 
is  unknown,  but  there  was  nothing  in  Zwingli's 
practices  or  in  public  opinion  to  hold  him  back  from 
paying  attentions  to  his  beautiful  parishioner  and 
neighbour.  In  1522  Zwingli  moved  to  a  house  op- 
posite to  the  cathedral  on  the  east  side,  on  the  corner 
of  the  present  streets,  Gasse  and  Neustadt  Gasse.' 

His  relations  with  Anna  Reinhard  was  the  talk  of 
the  town,  and  rumours  of  it  spread  pretty  far.  On  or 
about  April  27,  1522,  his  friend  Glareanus  writes 
jokingly :  "  They  say  that  I  have  married  here  [in 
Basel]  and  that  you  have  done  the  same  thing  [in 
Zurich].  I  believe  this  is  a  lie  in  both  cases.  They  add 
also  that  you  have  married  a  widow  and  I  a  woman  of 

'A  tablet  on  the  house  thus   reads:   "The  house  to  the  pillar. 
Official  residence  of  Ulrich  Zwingli,  1522-1524." 


234  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524 

the  town. ' ' '  As  no  letter  from  Zwingli  to  Glareanus 
has  been  preserved,  it  is  impossible  to  find  out  now 
what  answer  Zwingli  made,  but  Glareanus's  letter  is 
evidence  that  Zwingli  had  not  taken  him  into  his 
confidence  and  that  rumour  for  once  was  veracious. 
Another  friend  states  in  his  letter  to  Zwingli  on 
November  28,  1 522,  that  it  was  said  that  he  (Zwingli) 
had  publicly  married  the  burgomaster's  daughter.^ 
Rumour  in  this  case  had  only  an  inkling  of  the 
truth.  Zwingli  in  his  reply,  dated  December  20, 
1522,  while  denying  a  certain  slander  on  him,  says 
not  a  word  about  his  "  marriage."^  Nor  does  he 
allude  to  it  when  denying  the  charge  of  promiscuous 
immorality  which  the  cantonal  clerk  of  Schwyz  re- 
tails to  him  under  date  October  19,  1522.''  Nor  does 
he  mention  Anna  Reinhard  in  any  preserved  letter. 
That  he  had  any  wife  would  be  unknown  were  it 
not  that  on  July  22,  1522,  Myconius  writes,  "  best 
wishes  for  your  wife  "  ";  on  September  23d,  "  re- 
member me  to  your  son,"  "  and  about  December 
19th,  "  farewell  to  you  and  your  wife."  ' 

As  appears  from  the  above,  Zwingli  and  Anna 
Reinhard  considered  themselves  as  married  to  one 
another,  and  this  so-called  "clerical  marriage"  in- 
volved no  social  stigma.'  Still,  when  priest  after 
priest  in  Switzerland  and  Germany  publicly  made  the 
woman  he  was  living  with  or  some  other  woman  his 

'VIT.,  197.  -^VII.,  247.  3VII.,  255. 

*VII.,  235.  Zwingli's  reply  (vii.,  237)  is,  however,  incomplete 
and  undated  in  present  shape. 

^VII.,  2IO.  "VII.,  226.  ■'VII.,  253. 

*  For  another  concealed  marriage  among  Zwingli's  friends,  see 
vii.,  233. 


T524]      Public  Marriage  and  Letters       235 

wife,  the  wonder  grew  among  Zwingli's  friends  that 
he  did  not  do  the  same.  The  only  defence  possible 
is  that  there  were  social  and  legal  obstacles  in  the 
way  because  Anna  Reinhard  was  by  marriage  allied 
to  the  Zurich  patricians. 

The  public  marriage  took  place  in  the  presence  of 
many  witnesses'  on  Saturday,  April  2d,''  but  not 
till  July  26th  did  the  City  Council  permit  Zwingli's 
wife  to  leave  her  children  and  go  to  live  in  his  house. 
The  marriage  was  followed  by  troubles  about  the 
money  matters  of  the  Knonau  children,  who  took  up 
their  residence  in  their  late  grandfather's  house, 
"  Meyerhof."  But  these  appear  to  have  been  amica- 
bly settled.' 

The  impression  that  Zwingli  had  married  an 
heiress  had  no  foundation.  His  wife  brought  him 
very  little  money.  His  married  life  seems  to  have 
been  happy  and  unsullied. 

The  Zwingli  correspondence  of  1524*  has  little 
general  interest,  and  from  that  year  is  more  and 
more  taken  up  with  petty  matters,  politics,  baptismal 
and  eucharistic  statements,  and  with  controversy. 
The  letters  of  Zwingli  himself  are,  however,  always 
the  best  in  the  collection  and  most  worthy  of 
attention. 


'  So  Bernhard  Weis,  quoted  by  Hess,  p.  93  (in  FuessH.  Beytraege, 
iv. ,  322  sq.^. 

'  After  this  date  there  are  frequent  greetings  to  his  wife  in  his 
correspondence. 

*  Cf.  Hess,  pp.  286  sqq. 

*It  may  be  thus  analysed.  On  January  i,  1524  (vii.,  323,  324), 
he  wrote  a  very  pleasant  letter  to  Erasmus  Ritter,  pastor  or  "bishop" 
of  SchafThausen,  which  was  the  beginning  of  their  correspondence ; 


236  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524 

When  the  news  of  Zwingli's  public  marriage 
reached  Butzer  in  Strassburg,  he  wrote  (April  14, 
1524)': 

"  When  I  read  in  the  letter  to  Capito  that  you  had  given 
a  public  announcement  of  your  marriage,  I  was  almost 
beside  myself  in  my  great  satisfaction.  For  it  was  the 
one  thing  I  desired  for  you.  Not  that  I  had  been  able  to 
attribute  to  you  so  great  a  lack  of  faith  as  to  think  that 
you  feared  that  Christ  would  not  use  you  as  a  married 
man  fruitfully  in  the  business  of  His  Word,  and  that  He 
had  employed  you  to  evil  results  as  a  celibate — you  who 
•were  daily  saying  such  things  as  Antichrist  would  be 
able  to  endure  much  more  easily  than  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  your  marriage.  I  never  believed  you  were  un- 
married after  the  time  when  you  indicated  to  the  Bishop 
of  Constance  in  that  tract "  that  you  desired  this  gift. 
But  as  I  considered  the  fact  that  you  were  considered  a 
fornicator  by  some,  and  by  others  held  to  have  little 
faith  in  Christ,  I  could  not  understand  why  you  con- 
cealed  it   so  long  and  that  the   fact  was  not  declared 

on  February  23d  (vii.,  324-326),  a  very  sharp  letter  to  Dr.  Brend- 
lin,  who  was  one  of  the  episcopal  delegation  to  Zurich  in  the 
spring  of  1522,  and  a  bitter  foe  to  the  Reformation,  which  he  en- 
closed in  a  letter  to  Vadianus  dated  February  24th  (vii.,  327,  32S). 
On  April  30th  a  Roman  Catholic  correspondent  informs  him  of  the 
popular  impression  that  he  (Zwingli)  was  to  be  burned  (vii.,  329) ! 
On  March  28th,  in  writing  to  Vadianus,  Zwingli  (vii.,  333,  334)  com- 
plains that  the  pressure  upon  him  compelled  him  to  push  out  rather 
"than  publish  his  works — hence  their  repetitions  and  omissions.  On 
April  nth  he  reins  up  his  colleague,  Conrad  Hofmann,  for  having 
calumniated  him  (vii.,  334).  On  May  i6th  he  wrote  a  gossipy  letter 
to  Vadianus  from  Leo  Jud's  house  (vii.,  341,  342).     On  June  3d  he 

'VII.,  335.  "Seep.  166. 


I524J      Public  Marriage  and  Letters       237 

openly  and  with  candour  and  diligence.  I  could  not 
doubt  that  you  were  led  into  this  course  by  considera- 
tions which  could  not  be  i)ut  aside  by  a  conscientious  man. 
However  that  may  be,  I  triumph  in  the  fact  that  now  you 
have  come  up  in  all  things  to  the  apostolic  definition."  ' 

wrote  .1  very  long  and  friendly  letter  to  Butzer,  mostly  upon  the  use 
of  images.'  His  letter  of  June  i6th  (vii.,  343-345)  to  John  Frosch, 
who  afterwards  was  a  keen  Lutheran,  accompanies  one  from  Ur- 
banus  Regius  to  Frosch,  which  bears  testimony  to  Zwingli's  extra- 
ordinary fitness  to  lead  the  reform  (vii.,  345-347).  On  July  4th  he 
wrote  again  to  Vadianus  (vii.,  347,  34S),  all  about  a  marriage  which 
Vadianus  wished  arranged.  On  July  25th  Zwingli  addressed  in 
German  his  old  lords  of  Toggenburg  in  behalf  of  the  Gospel  (vii., 
348-356).  On  August  6th  another  long  letter,  this  time  to  the 
burgomaster  of  Strassburg  (viii.,  651,  652).  In  that  month  he  began 
a  savage  and  insulting  letter  to  Eck  (vii.,  356,  357),  but  probably 
never  finished  it,  as  the  copy  in  his  works  is  incomplete.  On  Octo- 
ber gth,  to  CEcolampadius,  he  wrote  a  few  lines  (vii.,  360,  361).  On 
October  20th  he  wrote  another  very  long  letter  (vii.,  361-367),  which 
is  in  reality  a  treatise  upon  the  errors  intentional,  or  ignorant,  of  a 
certain  preacher  at  Bremgarten,  contained  in  an  oration  against  the 
Gospel  delivered  at  Baden.  On  October  24th,  in  writing  to  Pirk- 
heimer  (viii.,  653),  he  derived  the  word  mass  from  missa,  the  offer- 
ing of  a  victim. 


'Allusion  to  I.  Timothy,  iii.,  2,  as  if,  forsooth,  it  meant  that  it 
■was  obligatory  upon  a  "  bishop  "  to  have  a  wife  ! 

'•*  See  letter  in  R.  Staehelin,  Brie/e  aus  der  Reformatioiuzeit  (Basel,  1887),  pp. 
15-19. 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE    INNER    COURSE    OF    THE    ZURICH    REFORMA- 
TION 

1525-1530 

AS  in  Germany  so  in  Zurich,  no  sooner  had  the 
Reformation  been  established  than  the  mem- 
bers of  the  reformed  Church  had  to  fight  internal 
foes,  as  the  Baptists  were  considered  ;  and  the  atten- 
tion of  their  leaders  was  taken  up  with  controver- 
sies as  to  the  proper  treatment  to  give  the  peasants. 
The  agitation  on  both  these  points  came  to  Switz- 
erland from  Germany,  and  was  explicable  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  the  natural  result  of  the  awaken- 
ing of  the  spirit  of  free  speech,  criticism  of  social 
conditions,  and  independent  research  in  the  Holy 
Word.  But  alas!  the  sixteenth  century  was  no 
time  for  the  radicals  in  these  directions.  Religious 
toleration  was  the  furthest  it  could  go.  Religious 
liberty  was  a  thing  unknown.  The  day  of  political 
equality  had  not  yet  dawned.  The  troubles  with 
the  peasants  in  the  canton  of  Zurich  might  have 
been  more  serious  if  the  Peasant  War  in  Germany 
had  not  ended  in  the  crushing  defeat  of  their  fellow 
complainers.      Still  in  Zurich  as  in  Germany  they 

a38 


[1525-1530]         The  Inner  Course  239 

drew  up  a  long  list  of  complaints.  These  they  pre- 
sented to  the  Council,  who  in  turn  asked  Zwingli 
to  advise  them.  His  advice  was  on  the  whole 
favourable  to  the  peasants,  as  he  advocated  the 
abolition  of  the  "  small  tithe,"  i.  c,  the  tax  on 
vegetables,  fruit,  and  edible  roots,  which  was  a 
great  annoyance,  and  of  bodily  service  in  general.' 

Tithes,  however,  he  considered  as  binding,  not  on 
scriptural  grounds,  but  on  legal  grounds,  and  de- 
clared that  if  they  were  not  paid  they  would  have 
to  be  made  up  otherwise  by  new  and  heavier  taxes. 
In  order  to  settle  the  matter  the  Council  adopted 
the  usual  plan  and  held  a  public  debate  on  June  22, 
1525,  in  which  Zwingli  had  the  leading  part.  At 
its  conclusion  the  Council  ordered  the  payment  of 
tithes  and  taxes,  that  the  peasants  be  quiet  and 
obedient  to  their  lords,  and  that  the  preachers 
whose  erroneous  Bible  teaching  had  fomented  the 
disturbances  be  careful  to  counsel  peace. 

The  Council  then  announced  that  they  would  go 
over  the  matter  carefully  with  Zwingli  and  decide 
on  the  basis  of  Scripture  what  disposition  should  be 
made  of  the  peasants'  grievances.  No  further  dis- 
turbances occurred  among  the  peasants,  but  a  dis- 
putation upon  the  subject  of  tithes  was  held  in 
Zurich  in  the  beginning  of  August.  Zwingli  re- 
peated his  arguments,  but  for  once  the  Council  held 
that  he  was  mistaken  and  appealed  to  alleged  bib- 
lical grounds  for  maintaining  the  tithes.' 

'  II-,  2,  374-377- 

*  For  general  references  see  ii.,  2,  364-373;  Bullinger,  i.,  280 
sqq. ;  Egli,  A,  S.,  756. 


240  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525- 

Zwingli's  troubles  because  of  the  peasants  were, 
however,  not  a  circumstance  to  those  caused  by  the 
Baptist  party  in  Zurich. 

The  first  members  of  the  party  were  radicals,  who 
put  into  practice  theories  of  conduct  which  they 
knew  Zwingli  favoured,  but  was  slow  to  adopt  for 
himself.  Thus  they  were  those  who  in  1522  ate 
flesh  in  Lent;  and  those  who  pulled  down  the  pic- 
tures and  statues  in  the  churches,  before  public 
opinion  was  exactly  ripe  for  such  action;  they  en- 
tered heartily  into  the  reconstruction  of  the  Church, 
but  aspired  to  reconstruct  the  State  as  well  and  give 
it  over  to  the  saints,  by  which  they  meant  them- 
selves. Zwingli  could  not  fail  to  perceive  how 
closely  they  kept  to  his  lines  in  doing  these  things, 
but  he  was  naturally  so  cautious  that  their  haste 
annoyed  him  and  was  by  him  condemned.'  He  in- 
sisted that  if  they  were  not  in  such  a  hurry  they 
would  accomplish  their  ends  with  more  ease  and 
certainty. 

Being  at  first  exclusively  very  plain  people,  and 
meeting  in  a  private  house,  these  radicals  were  un- 
molested by  the  authorities.  Zwingli  was  at  first 
often  present  at  their  meetings;  indeed,  they  met  to 
discuss  his  sermons.  In  the  summer  of  1522  they 
were  joined  by  Felix  Manz  and  Conrad  Grebel,  sons 


'  Cf.  his  remarks  in  iii.,  57,  5S  :  "  Hundreds  of  times  I  have  said 
openly,  '  I  beseech  you  by  Jesus  Christ,  by  our  common  faith,  not 
to  make  any  change  rashly,  but  to  show  to  all  men  by  your  endur- 
ance, if  in  no  other  way,  that  you  are  Christians,  in  that  on  account 
of  the  weak  you  bear  things  that  by  Christ's  law  you  do  not  need  to 
bear.' " 


i53oj  The  Inner  Course  241 

of  distinguished  citizens.  Manz  was  the  son  of  a 
canon,  an  excellent  Hebrew  scholar,  and  Zwingli's 
assistant,  and  it  was  at  the  time  in  his  mother's 
house  that  they  met.  Grebel  was  the  son  of  Jacob 
Grebel,  one  of  the  City  Councillors,  He  was  con- 
verted under  Zwingli  from  a  licentious  life,  and  for 
a  time  followed  Zwingli's  advice,  but,  convinced 
that  Zwingli  was  wrong  upon  the  question  of  bap- 
tism and  of  duty  towards  magistrates,  joined  the 
radicals  and  soon  became  their  chosen  representa- 
tive. The  appearance  of  two  such  men  among 
them  gave  them  greatly  increased  importance,  but 
led  also  to  the  commencement  of  persecution  by 
the  authorities,  so  that  they  met  more  secretly. 

Their  number  in  the  city  of  Zurich,  on  September 
5,  1524,  was  only  twenty;  outside,  however,  they 
had  adherents  among  clergy  and  laity.' 

It  was  in  the  Second  Disputation,  in  October, 
26-28,  1523,  that  they  first  emerged  as  a  dis- 
tinct entity.  They  demanded  action  immediate 
and  decisive,  not  only  respecting  the  removal  of  the 
pictures  and  images  from  the  churches,  but  also  re- 
specting the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper, — 
viz.,  that  the  practices  in  the  original  Supper  as  de- 
scribed in  the  New  Testament  should  be  followed, — • 
and  denounced  the  mass  as  of  the  devil.^ 

Zwingli  laid  little  stress  upon  any  literal  imitation 


'  See  letter  of  Grebel's  to  Thomas  Munzer,  quoted  ii.,  i,  374. 

*See  the  report  of  the  speeches  of  Conrad  Grebel  in  the  disputa- 
tion  (i.,  528,  532  sqq.  especially).  From  which  it  appears  that  it 
was  on  the  third  and  last  day  of  the  disputation  that  the  radical 
party  first  found  voice. 


^4^  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525- 

of  the  Bible  ordinances,  which  in  this  case  would 
oblige  logically  the  wearing  of  the  same  clothing  as 
Christ  and  His  apostles  and  the  mutual  feet-washing. 
His  reply  to  the  radicals  was  in  good  temper,  but 
plainly  showed  that  he  could  not  be  counted  upon 
to  support  their  claims,  and  that  a  breach  between 
them  and  him  had  begun. 

During  the  summer  of  1524  he  had  two  secret 
conferences  with  them.' 

They  had  already  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
infant  baptism  was  unscriptural.  This  is  plain  from 
the  letter  written  jointly  by  several  of  them  on 
September  5,  1524,  to  Thomas  Miinzer,  the  Ger- 
man Protestant  radical  church-innovator,  who  had 
already  made  this  assertion,  but  who  inconsistently 
had  not  abandoned  the  practice  of  infant  baptism. 
They  call  infant  baptism  "  a  silly,  blasphemous  out- 
rage, contrary  to  all  Scripture." '  In  November 
that  other  iconoclast,  Andrew  Carlstadt,  who  had 
also  publicly  maintained  the  same  opinion,  came  to 
Zurich.  The  knowledge  that  two  such  able  men 
were  on  their  side  doubtless  greatly  encouraged 
them.  With  the  adoption  of  this  view  as  an  article 
of  faith  the  radical  becomes  the  Baptist  party. 

Zwingli,  like  CEcolampadius  and  Capito,  had  at 
first  no  particular  fault  to  find  with  this  view  upon 
baptism.  Who  the  proper  subjects  were  was  a  de- 
batable question.  Thus  in  his  "  Exposition  "  of  the 
Articles  defended  in  the  First  Disputation  in  1523, 
Zwingli  says : 


>II.,  I,  261. 

'  Quoted  in  C.  A.  Cornelius,  Geschichte  der  Milnsterrischen  Auf- 
ruhrs  (Leipzig,  1855-60,  2  vols.)  ii.,  240  sqq. 


I530]  The  Inner  Course  243 

"  Although  I  know,  as  the  Fathers  show,  that  infants 
have  been  baptised  occasionally  from  the  earliest  times, 
still  it  was  not  so  universal  a  custom  as  it  is  now,  but  the 
common  practice  was  as  soon  as  they  arrived  at  the  age 
of  reason  to  form  them  into  classes  for  instruction  in  the 
Word  of  Salvation  (hence  they  were  called  catechumens, 
/'.  ^.,  persons  under  instruction).  And  after  a  firm  faith 
had  been  implanted  in  their  hearts  and  they  had  con- 
fessed the  same  with  their  mouth,  then  they  were  bap- 
tised. I  could  wish  that  this  custom  of  giving  instruction 
were  revived  to-day,  viz.,  since  the  children  are  bap- 
tised so  young  their  religious  instruction  might  begin  as 
soon  as  they  come  to  sufficient  understanding.  Other- 
wise they  suffer  a  great  and  ruinous  disadvantage  if  they 
are  not  as  well  religiously  instructed  after  baptism  as  the 
children  of  the  ancients  were  before  baptism,  as  sermons 
to  them  still  preserved  prove."' 

By  order  of  the  City  Council  a  public  disputation 
was  held  on  January  17  and  18,  1525,  between  the 
three  people's  priests  (Zwingli,  Jud,  and  Engelhard) 
and  the  Baptists.  In  consequence  of  the  latter's  "  de- 
feat," the  Council,  on  January  i8th,  passed  the  fol- 
lowing order  commanding  those  who  had  refused  to 
have  their  infant  children  baptised  to  present  them 
for  this  purpose  within  a  week  on  pain  of  banishment : 

'I.,  239,  240.  Such  speeches  not  unnaturally  encouraged  the 
Baptists  to  believe  that  Zwingli  was  really  on  their  side.  Accord- 
ingly when  they  appeared  before  the  Zurich  City  Council,  they 
claimed  that  he  and  the  other  Reformed  pastors  knew  well  that 
infant  baptism  was  wrong,  but  they  would  not  confess  it.  So  Hub- 
maier  deposed  in  1525:  "In  1523,  on  Philip  and  James'  Day 
[Friday,  May  i],  I  have  with  you  [Zwingli]  conferred  in  Graben 
Street  upon  the  Scriptures  relating  to  Baptism  ;  then  and  there  you 
said  I  was  right  in  saying  that  children  should  not  be  baptised  before 


244  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525- 

"  Whereas  an  error  has  arisen  respecting  baptism,  as 
if  young  children  should  not  be  baptised  until  they  come 
to  years  of  discretion,  and  know  what  the  faith  is;  and 
whereas  some  have  accordingly  neglected  to  have  their 
children  baptised,  our  burgomaster.  Council,  and  Great 
Council  —  so  the  Two  Hundred  of  the  city  of  Zurich  are 
called — have  held  a  disputation  upon  this  matter  to  learn 
what  Holy  Scripture  has  to  say  about  it,  and  having 
learned  from  it  that  notwithstanding  this  error  the  child- 
ren should  be  baptised  as  soon  as  they  are  born;  so 
must  all  those  who  have  hitherto  allowed  their  children 
to  be  unbaptised  have  them  baptised  inside  the  next 
week.  Whoever  will  not  do  this  must  with  wife  and 
child,  goods  and  chattels  leave  our  city,  jurisdiction,  and 
domain,  or  await  what  will  be  done  to  him.  Each  one 
will  accordingly  know  how  to  conduct  himself.  Done 
Wednesday  before  Sebastian's  Day,  MDXXV."  * 

On  January  2ist  the  Council  forbade  the  private 
meetings  of  the  Baptists  and  banished  the  foreigners 
among  their  members.* 

they  were  instructed  in  the  faith  ;  this  had  been  the  custom  pre- 
viously, therefore  such  [persons  under  instruction]  were  called  cate- 
chumens ;  you  promised  to  bring  this  out  in  your  '  Exposition  '  of  the 
Articles,  as  you  did  in  the  XVIIIth  Article,  on  Confirmation.  Any- 
one who  reads  it  will  find  therein  your  opinion  clearly  expressed. 
Sebastian  Ruckensperger  of  St.  Gall,  then  prior  of  [the  Benedictine] 
Sion  at  Klingnan  [twenty  miles  north-west  of  Zurich]  was  present. 
So  you  have  also  confessed  in  your  book  upon  the  unruly  spirits, 
that  those  who  baptised  infants  could  quote  no  clear  word  in  Script- 
ure ordering  them  to  baptise  them.  From  this  learn,  friend 
Zwingli,  how  your  conversation,  writing,  and  preaching  agree." — 
Flisslin,  Beytrage,  i.,  n.  54,  pp.  252,  253. 

'  Ftisslin,  Beytrdge,  i.,  189,  20I  ;  Egli,  A.  S.,  No.  622, 
«Egli,  A.  S.,  N0.624. 


I530]  The  Inner  Course  245 

Up  to  this  time  the  Baptists  merely  protested 
against  infant  baptism,  but  had  not  ventured  upon 
baptising  adults  who  had  already  been  baptised  in 
unconscious  infancy.  Now,  in  the  village  of  Zolli- 
con,  on  the  north  shore  of  the  Lake,  and  six  miles 
from  tlie  city,  whither  persecution  drove  them,  they 
proceeded  for  the  first  time  to  take  the  logical  step. 

Conrad  Grebel  seems  to  have  been  the  leader  in 
this.  He  rightfully  argued  from  their  accepted 
premise:  baptism  should  follow  a  confession  of 
faith,  that  only  those  who  uncierstood  what  the  rite 
meant  should  be  baptised ;  and  baptised  the  former 
monk  George  Blaurock,  who,  in  turn,  baptised  fif- 
teen others.  This  baptism  was  by  pouring,  not  by 
immersion.  The  idea  found  quick  acceptance  and 
soon  all  their  adherents  were  baptised.  They  all 
agreed  that  the  "  baptism  "  they  had  received  in 
infancy  was  invalid.  Yet  because  the  entire  Christ- 
ian Church  in  all  centuries  up  to  that  time,  and  with 
the  exception  of  Baptists  ever  since,  has  proclaimed 
that  infant  baptism  was  valid  the  party  got  the 
name  of  Anabaptists,  i.  e.,  those  who  baptise  again 
those  previously  baptised.  One  of  the  Baptists, 
Rudolph  Thomann  of  Zollicon,  examined  by  the 
Council  of  Zurich  on  February  7,  1525,  thus  de- 
scribed the  sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper  as  observed  in  the  Zollicon  gatherings: 

"  He  had  eaten  the  Lord's  Supper  with  the  old  as- 
sistant (Brotli  ?),  and  him  from  Witikon  (R6ubli),and  had 
invited  them  into  his  house.  .  .  .  There  many  had 
assembled  so  that  the  apartment  was   full;   there  was 


246  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525- 

much  speaking  and  long  readings.  Then  stood  up  Hans 
Bruggbach  of  Zumicon,  weeping  and  crying  out  that  he 
was  a  great  sinner  and  asking  all  present  to  pray  God  for 
him.  Whereupon  Blaurock  asked  him  if  he  desired  the 
grace  of  God  and  he  said  '  Yes.'  Manz  then  arose  and 
said,  *  Who  will  hinder  me  from  baptising  him  ?  *  Blau- 
rock answered,  '  No  one.'  So  Manz  took  a  dipper  of 
water  and  baptised  him  in  the  name  of  God  the  Father, 
God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost.  Whereupon 
Jacob  Hottinger  arose  and  desired  baptism;  and  Felix 
Manz  baptised  him  also.  .  .  .  Seeing  the  loaf  on 
the  table,  Blaurock  said:  '  Whoever  believes  that  God 
has  redeemed  him  with  His  death  and  rosy-coloured 
blood,  comes  and  eats  with  me  from  this  loaf  and  drinks 
with  me  from  this  wine.'  Then  each  one  present  ate 
and  drank  as  invited."  ' 

^►Frequent  debates  with  the  Baptists  were  held  in  Zu- 
rich, and  one  especially  on  March  20,  1525,  and  three 
days  thereafter."  But  they  only  widened  the  breach, 
and  the  punishment  of  banishment  which  the  Council 
inflicted  for  rebaptism  did  not  lessen  the  numbers 
of  the  Baptists.  Yet  from  the  Council's  point  of 
view  the  punishment  was  defensible  as  the  Baptists 
were  enemies  of  the  standing  order.  Among  those 
openly  to  adhere  to  the  Baptists  was  the  famous 
theologian  Balthasar  Hubmaier.  He  quickly  be- 
came their  leading  man,  and  it  was  with  him  that 
Zwingli  was  engaged  in  hot  debate  —  all  the  more 
painful  because  Hubmaier  had  been  a  bosom  friend.' 


'Egli,  A.  S.,  No.  636. 
'  So  Zwingli  says  (iii.,  363). 

*  Hubmaier  had  been  prominent  in  the  Second  Zurich  Disputation 
and  took  the  radical  side  for  the  most  part. 


I530]  The  Inner  Course  247 

The  fight  was  now  on  and  it  was  bitterly  waged. 
But  no  space  can  be  given  to  it.  Both  sides  went 
over  the  now  well-worn  arguments  and  were  as  far 
apart  as  ever.  The  action  of  the  Zurich  authorities 
was  determined  by  practical  considerations.  They 
could  not  tolerate  a  body  of  schismatics  who  de- 
nounced Zwingli  and  themselves.  If  there  were  to 
be  any  abuse  let  Zwingli  and  them  have  it  all  to 
themselves. 

So  Grebel,  Manz,  and  Blaurock  were  banished. 
Consistently  believing  in  their  favourite  panacea,  the 
Council  ordered  a  third  public  disputation,  which 
took  place  on  November  6,  1525.  As  before,  Zwingli 
was  the  spokesman  of  the  Reformed.  Grebel,  Manz, 
and  Blaurock  were  temporarily  recalled  from  their 
banishment  to  debate  with  him.  As  they  naturally 
declared  themselves  unconquered,  they  were  threat- 
ened with  the  severest  punishment.  Hubmaier  was 
not  present. 

Most  of  the  Baptist  leaders  met  violent  deaths. 
After  many  adventures  unhappy  Felix  Manz  was, 
in  punishment  of  his  objectionable  Baptist  propa- 
ganda, drowned  in  the  Lake  of  Zurich  January  7, 
1527;  and  George  Blaurock  was  cruelly  beaten  and 
then  banished  under  threat  of  death  if  he  returned.' 

He  did  return,  however,  and  secretly  baptised. 
He  lived  until  1529,  when  he  was  burned  for  his 
alleged  heresy  in  Innsbruck.  Conrad  Grebel  died 
of  the  plague  at  Maienfeld  in  1526.  Hubmaier  was 
burnt  at  the  stake  in  Vienna,  March  10,  1528. 

The  fortitude  of  the  Baptist  martyrs  made  a  great 

'  Egli,  A.  S.,  Nos    1 109,  mo. 


248  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525- 

impression,  and  the  party  continued  to  flourish  for 
a  while  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  magistracy. 
Zwingli  and  his  associates  '  wrote  book  after  book 
against  them,  and  honestly  favoured  their  extinction 
as  enemies  to  Church  and  State. 

In  Zwingli's  correspondence  there  are  many  more 
or  less  extended  references  to  the  Baptists,  some  of 
the  most  characteristic  of  which  are  here  given, 
especially  those  relating  to  Balthasar  Hubmaier. 

To  CEcolampadius,  October  9,  1524  (vii.,  360): 

"  The  challenge  of  Balthasar  [Hubmaier]  lately  issued, 
either  send  to  me  in  print  or  have  a  copy  made  for  me, 
whichever  way  this  bookseller  will  act  as  messenger." 


'  The  following  is  the  list  of  Zwingli's  books  on  this  subject,  but 
Qilcolampadius  and  others  were  equally  diligent,  (i)  "  Baptism, 
Re-baptism,  and  Infant  Baptism,"  May  27,  1525  (ii.,  i,  230-303  ; 
language,  Germap  ;  in  modern  German  by  R.  Christoffel,  Zurich, 
1843) ;  (2)  "  On  the  office  of  preacher,  wherein  is  shown  that  the 
self-commissioned  disturbers  of  the  peace  are  not  apostles  as  they 
consider  themselves,  work  against  God's  Word  when  they  obtrude 
themselves  upon  the  sermons  of  the  faithful  pastors  and  preachers  of 
the  Gospel,  without  necessity  or  permission  of  the  whole  congrega- 
tion and  of  the  pastor,"  June  30,  1525  (ii.,  i,  304-336,  German); 

(3)  "Dr.  Balthasar  [Hubmaier's]  booklet  upon  Baptism  honestly 
and  thoroughly  answered,"  1525,  exact  date  unknown,  but  after 
July  II,  the  date  of  Hubmaier's  book  (ii.,   i,  343-369,  German); 

(4)  "Refutation  of  the  tricks  of  the  Catabaptists,"  July  31,  1527 
(iii.,  358-437,  Latin)  ;  (5)  "Questions  upon  the  Sacrament  of  Bap- 
tism," drawn  up  by  Schwenckfeld  in  1530,  after  November  iSth, 
when  Brunner  asked  Butzer  whether  he  should  send  them  to  Zwingli, 
who  in  this  treatise  reprints  Schwenckfehl's  (juestions  and  then 
briefly  answers  them  (iii.,  questions  563-571,  answers  571-588, 
Latin). 


I530]  The  Inner  Course  249 

To  Capito,  January  i,  1526  (Staehelin,  Brief e  aus 
dcr  Reformationzeit,  p.  20) : 

"  Balthasar  of  Waldshut  has  fallen  into  prison  here  —  a 
man  not  merely  irreverent  and  unlearned,  but  even 
empty.  Learn  the  sum  of  the  matter.  When  he  came 
to  Zurich  our  Council  fearing  lest  he  should  cause  a 
commotion  ordered  him  to  be  taken  into  custody.  Since, 
however,  he  had  once  in  freakishness  of  disposition  and 
fatuity,  blurted  out  in  Waldshut  against  our  Council,  of 
which  place  he,  by  the  gods,  was  a  guardian  [/.  ^.,  he  was 
pastor  there],  until  the  stupid  fellow  disunited  and  de- 
stroyed everything,  it  was  determined  that  I  should  dis- 
cuss with  him  in  a  friendly  manner  the  baptising  of  infants 
and  Catabaptists,  as  he  earnestly  begged  first  from  prison 
and  afterwards  from  custody.  I  met  the  fellow  and 
rendered  him  mute  as  a  fish.  The  next  day  he  recited 
a  recantation  in  the  presence  of  certain  Councillors  ap- 
pointed for  the  purpose  [which  recantation  when  re- 
peated to  the  Two  Hundred  it  was  ordered  should  be 
publicly  made.  Therefore  having  started  to  write  it  in 
the  city,  he  gave  it  to  the  Council  with  his  own  hand, 
with  all  its  silliness,  as  he  promised.  At  length  he  de- 
nied that  he  had  changed  his  opinion,  although  he  had 
dont^so  before  a  Swiss  tribunal,  which  with  us  is  a  capital 
offence,  affirming  that  his  signature  had  been  extorted 
from  him  by  terror,  which  was  most  untrue].  ' 

"  The  Council  was  so  unwilling  that  force  should  be 
used  on  him  that  when  the  Emperor  or  Ferdinand  twice 
asked  that  the  fellow  be  given  to  him  it  refused  the  request. 
Indeed  he  was  not  taken  prisoner  that  he  might  suffer 
the  penalty  of  his  boldness  in  the  baptismal  matter,  but 

'  The  part  in  the  brackets  has  not  been  all  deciphered,  and  so 
the  translation  is  so  far  forth  somewhat  conjectural. 


250  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525- 

to  prevent  his  causing  in  secret  some  confusion,  a  thing 
he  delighted  to  do.  Then  he  angered  the  Council;  for 
there  were  present  most  upright  Councillors  who  had  wit- 
nessed his  most  explicit  and  unconstrained  withdrawal, 
and  had  refused  to  hand  him  over  to  the  cruelty  of  the 
Emperor,  helping  themselves  with  my  aid.  The  next 
day  he  was  thrust  back  into  prison  and  tortured.  It  is 
clear  that  the  man  had  become  a  sport  for  demons,  so 
he  recanted  not  frankly  as  he  had  promised,  nay  he  said 
that  he  entertained  no  other  opinions  than  those  taught 
by  me,  execrated  the  error  and  obstinacy  of  the  Cata- 
baptists,  repeated  this  three  times  when  stretched  on  the 
rack,  and  bewailed  his  misery  and  the  wrath  of  God 
which  in  this  affair  was  so  unkind.  Behold  what 
wantonness!  Than  these  men  there  is  nothing  more 
foolhardy,  deceptive,  infamous  —  for  I  cannot  tell  you 
what  they  devise  in  Abtzell — and  shameless.  To-morrow 
or  next  day  the  case  will  come  up."  * 

Zwingli's  reference  to  Abtzell,  modern  Appenzell, 
one  of  the  Swiss  cantons,  as  a  hotbed  of  Baptists 
brought  him  into  trouble,  as  the  following  letter  to 
the  people  of  Abtzell,  February  12,  1526  (vii.,  473) 
shows : 

"  Grace  and  peace  from  God  to  you,  respected,  hon- 
oured, wise,  clement,  gracious  and  beloved  Masters: 
An  exceedingly  unfortunate  affair  has  happened  to  me, 
in  that  I  have  been  publicly  accused  before  your  wor- 
ships of  having  reviled  you  in  unseemly  words  and,  be 
it  said  with  all  respect,  of  having  called  you  heretics,  my 

'  The  novelty  of  this  letter  is  its  revelation  of  Hubmaier's  torture. 
It  supplements  what  is  given  in  the  letters  beginning  vii.,  450,  452, 
534. 


1530]  The  Inner  Course  251 

gracious  rulers  of  the  State.  I  am  so  far  from  api)lying 
this  name  to  you,  that  I  should  as  soon  think  of  calling 
heaven  hell.  For  all  my  life  I  have  thought  and  spoken 
of  you  in  terms  of  praise  and  honour,  gentlemen  of  Abt- 
zeU,  as  I  do  to-day,  and,  as  God  favours  me,  shall  do  to 
the  end  of  my  days.  But  it  happened  not  long  ago  when 
I  was  preaching  against  the  Catabaptists  that  I  used  these 
words:  '  The  Catabaptists  are  now  doing  so  much  mis- 
chief to  the  upright  citizens  of  Abtzell  and  are  showing 
so  great  insolence,  that  nothing  could  be  more  infamous.' 
You  see,  gentle  sirs,  with  what  modesty  I  grieved  on 
your  account,  because  the  turbulent  Catabaptists  caused 
you  so  much  trouble.  Indeed  I  suspect  that  the  Cata- 
baptists are  the  very  people  who  have  set  this  sermon 
against  me  in  circulation  among  you,  for  they  do  many 
of  those  things  which  do  not  become  true  Christians, 
Therefore,  gentle  and  wise  sirs,  I  beg  most  earnestly 
that  you  will  have  me  exculpated  before  the  whole  com- 
munity, and,  if  occasion  arise,  that  you  will  have  this 
letter  read  in  public  assembly.  Sirs,  I  assure  you  in  the 
name  of  God  our  Saviour,  in  these  perilous  times  you 
have  never  been  out  of  my  thoughts  and  my  solicitous 
anxiety;  and  if  in  any  way  I  shall  be  able  to  serve  you 
I  will  spare  no  pains  to  do  so.  In  addition  to  the  fact 
that  I  never  use  such  terms  even  against  my  enemies,  let 
me  say  that  it  never  entered  my  mind  to  apply  such  in- 
sulting epithets  to  you,  pious  and  wise  sirs.  Sufficient 
of  this.  May  God  preserve  you  in  safety,  and  may  He 
put  a  curb  on  these  unbridled  falsehoods  which  are  be- 
ing scattered  everywhere,  which  is  an  evidence  of  some 
great  peril  —  and  may  He  hold  your  worships  and  the 
whole  state  in  the  true  faith  of  Christ!  Take  this  letter 
of  mine  in  good  part,  for  I  could  not  suffer  that  so  base 
a  falsehood  against  me  should  lie  uncontradicted." 


252  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525- 

To  Vadian,  March  7,  1526  (vii.,  477): 

"  It  has  been  decreed  this  day  by  the  Council  of  Two 
Hundred  '  that  the  leaders  of  the  Catabaptists  shall  be 
cast  into  the  Tower,^  in  which  they  formerly  lay,  and  be 
allured  by  a  bread  and  water  diet  until  they  either  give 
up  the  ghost  or  surrender.  It  is  also  added  that  they 
who  after  this  are  immersed  shall  be  submerged  perma- 
nently: this  decision  is  now  published.  Your  father-in- 
law  [Jacob  Grebel,  father  of  Conrad],  the  Senator,  in  vain 
implored  mercy  [for  Conrad,  who  was  one  of  the  prison- 
ers]. The  incorrigible  audacity  of  these  men  at  first 
greatly  grieved  me,  now  it  as  greatly  displeases  me.  I 
would  rather  that  the  newly  rising  Christianity  should 
not  be  ushered  in  with  a  racket  of  this  sort,  but  I  am 
not  God  whom  it  thus  pleases  to  make  provision  against 
evils  that  are  to  come,  as  He  did  when  in  olden  time  He 
slew  with  a  sudden  and  fearful  death  Ananias  who  lied 
to  Peter,  so  that  He  might  cast  out  from  us  all  daring  to 
deceive,  though  there  is  nothing  of  which  we  are  naturally 
such  masters." 

To  Peter  Gynoraeus,  August  31,  1526  (vii.,  534): 

"  That  Balthasar  [Hubmaier]  of  whom  I  wrote  a  few 
things  in  an  epistle  has  acted  as  follows  among  us:  He 
escaped  secretly  from  the  town  of  Waldshut  and  came  to 


•Egli,  A.  S.,  934. 

^  The  new  tower  in  Zurich,  called  the  Witches'  Tower.  It  rose 
above  the  city  wall  on  the  Great  Minster  side  of  the  Limmat,  be- 
tween the  two  gates,  Neumarkt  and  Niederdorf,  which  in  the  present 
city  is  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Predigerkirche  ;  see  Voegelin, 
Das  alte  Zurich,  i.,  426-428.  The  incarceration  of  the  Baptists 
there  caused  it  to  be  called  the  "  Heretics'  Tower." 


I530]  The  Inner  Course 


■^56 


the  home  of  a  widow  at  Zurich.  When  the  Council 
learned  it  they  supposed  that  he  was  hatching  out  some 
monstrosity,  as  do  the  rest  of  the  Catabaptists,  and  that 
for  this  purpose  he  had  crept  secretly  into  the  city.  So 
they  gave  orders  that  he  be  arrested  and  kept  under 
guard  in  the  court  house.  After  the  third  or  fourth  day 
(I  do  not  know  exactly  which),  they  suddenly  ordered 
Engelhard,  Leo,  Myconius,  Sebastian  [Hofmeister], 
Megander  [Grossmann],  myself  and  others  to  be  present. 
When  we  had  come  certain  of  the  Council  who  had  been 
appointed  for  the  purpose  told  us  that  Balthasar  had  sent 
letters  to  them  in  which  he  promised  that  he  would  van- 
quish Zwingli  on  the  subject  of  baptism  by  his  own 
writings.  We  proceeded  to  business.  Then  the  blind 
fellow  adduced  what  I  had  written  about  teaching  cate- 
chumens some  years  ago  in  the  book  on  the  Sixty-seven 
Articles.  For  he  did  not  know  that  it  was  our  custom 
that  the  boys  also  as  in  former  times  be  taught  the  rudi- 
ments of  the  faith.  This  he  referred  to  baptism,  rather 
indiscreetly;  as  if  I  had  said  that  it  was  my  counsel  that 
the  custom  of  not  baptising  infants  be  brought  back 
again,  when  I  had  spoken  of  imbuing  children  in  the 
elements  of  faith.  When  he  saw  that  he  had  erred  in 
this  matter  he  was  charming.  AVe  proceeded  after  much 
debate,  in  which  he  was  unwilling  to  recognise  that 
perpetual  covenant.  We  came  to  Acts  ii.,  from  which  I 
proved  that  the  children  of  Christians  were  in  the  be- 
ginning reckoned  as  of  the  Church.  When  he  had  made 
many  answers  I  was  trying  to  bring  him  to  a  clear  and 
definite  reply  to  the  question  whether  those  children 
were  in  the  Church  or  not.  But  I  made  every  effort  in 
vain.  Then  I  confess  frankly  when  I  came  to  I.  Cor.,  ii. 
'  All  our  fathers  were  baptised  unto  Moses,  etc.,'  and 
was  coming  to  the  point  of  compelling  him  to  acknowl- 


254  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525- 

edge  that  children  were  included  even  though  they  were 
not  expressly  mentioned,  and  when  he  was  unwilling  to 
saj'^  whether  or  not  they  were  —  I  confess  that  I  went  for 
the  man  rather  vigorously.  But  yet  only  to  the  effect, 
that  by  his  catabaptism  he  had  drawn  many  wretched 
citizens  into  a  revolt  in  which  they  had  perished.  But 
when  he  had  endured  this  for  a  considerable  time  the 
man  was  confuted  and  overcome.  He  then  took  a  new 
tack  and  demanded  that  he  be  granted  an  interview  with 
Leo,  Myconius,  and  Sebastian  [Hofmeister]  alone,  in 
order  that  he  might  confer  with  them.  The  arrogant 
fellow  hoped  he  would  draw  them  over  to  his  side  by 
his  soft-spoken  ways.  When  he  saw  that  this  course  did 
not  succeed  he  made  the  demand  a  second  time,  and 
after  many  crafty  tricks,  he  came  to  the  point  of  saying 
that  he  would  recant.  The  Council  did  not  compel  this, 
except  in  case  he  were  unwilling  to  depart  from  the  city. 
For  it  had  made  no  severer  provision  against  those  who 
do  not  wish  to  desert  the  cause  of  catabaptism  than  that 
they  should  leave  the  city.  Meanwhile  the  legates  of 
the  Emperor  came  with  a  demand  for  the  man  to  carry 
him  to  punishment.  He  was  denied  them  on  the  basis 
of  the  law  which  provides  that  no  citizen  shall  be  put  on 
his  defence  on  any  other  charge  than  that  for  which  he 
had  been  arrested.  Such  was  the  sin  of  the  Council 
against  that  man,  they  defended  him  from  the  demand 
of  Caesar  just  as  though  he  were  a  citizen!  And  this 
aided,  that  he  was  in  prison  before  he  was  in  '  free 
guard.'  However  this  may  be,  he  was  free  when  we 
came  together  and  for  some  time  after  was  guarded  at 
the  court  house.  Then  a  form  of  recantation  was 
drawn  up,  not  in  accordance  with  any  formula  of  the 
Council  or  of  anyone,  but  by  his  own  hand.  And 
when  he  had  read  this  in  the  church  to  which  the  name 


t53o]  The  Inner  Course  255 

Abbey  is  given,'  and  the  address  which  I  delivered  to 
the  people  had  been  finished,  he  straightway  denied  the 
recantation  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  assembly. 

"  He  did  this  supposing  that  he  had  an  opportunity  of 
speaking,  and  then  adduced  much  against  the  baptism 
of  infants  and  in  favour  of  catabaptism.  Hence  there 
was  a  persistent  rumour  (but  I  think  it  is  speculation) 
that  he  was  secretly  prompted  to  do  this  so  that  some 
commotion  might  result;  for  they  hoped  that  I  would  go 
away  when  my  speech  was  delivered.  He  was  cast  anew 
into  prison  and  was  held  there  for  a  month  longer.  Then 
he  finally  declared  that  he  was  entirely  ignorant  of  saying 
anything  to  vitiate  his  recantation;  and  if  he  said  any- 
thing else  than  what  he  had  promised  he  must  have  been 
possessed  by  a  demon.  He  put  together  a  new  recanta- 
tion. I  went  around  to  my  friends  with  the  request  that 
they  would  obtain  a  merciful  judgment  from  the  Council. 
This  was  granted.  When  he  offered  to  make  a  final 
statement  it  was  decreed  through  pity  that  he  should 
make  an  express  disavowal  and  then  should  depart  im- 
mediately from  the  territory.  I  then  personally  besought 
Engelhard,  Leo,  and  Megander  [Grossmann],  my  fellow- 
bishops,  that  they  should  intercede  in  company  with  me 
before  the  Council ;  for  if  he  were  driven  out  immediately 
after  his  disavowal,  grave  peril  would  threaten  him  both 
from  our  Swiss  and  from  Caesar.  The  Council  listened 
to  our  request,  and  after  the  recantation,  which  he  pre- 
tended he  made  heartily,  whereas  there  could  have  been 
nothing  less  hearty,  a  space  of  time  was  given  him  to 
stay  until  there  should  be  found  an  opportunity  of  send- 
ing him  first  in  safety.     And  this  came  about  through  a 

'  The  Minster  of  Our  Lady  (Fraumiinster)  on  the  opposite  bank  of 
the  Limmat  to  the  Great  Minster.  Hofmeister  was  people's  priest 
there  then. 


256  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525- 

certain  member  of  the  Council  who  is  most  faithful  in 
the  cause  of  Christ,  and  he  was  secretly  sent  away  so 
that  the  citizens  did  not  know  of  his  departure.  See, 
my  Peter,  with  how  great  generosity  we  treated  the  fellow 
and  with  what  treachery  he  responded.  For  as  soon  as 
he  reached  Constance  he  so  calumniated  me  before  the 
ministers  of  the  Word  and  boasted  of  his  victory  that  I 
do  not  know  but  he  turned  some  of  them  against  me. 
So  unprepared  are  some  for  the  detection  of  hypocrisy. 
We  kept  everything  secret.  When  he  went  away  he  so 
worked  on  those  good  men's  feelings  that  they  gave  him 
ten  gold  pieces.  And  yet  either  he  or  his  wife  had 
more  gold  than  they  had  silver.  Thus  do  they  abuse 
our  simple-mindedness  who  advance  their  own  interests 
under  the  guise  of  piety.  But  that  the  man  should  so 
revile  me  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  for  he  saw  from  the 
beginning  that  I  abhorred  him  and  his  practices.  I  give 
the  man  credit  for  cleverness  and  studious  moderation; 
but  still  I  see  in  him  (I  trust  I  am  mistaken)  nothing 
more  than  an  immoderate  thirst  for  money  and  notoriety. 
Accordingly  I  am  quite  indifferent  to  what  he  may  whis- 
per about  me  into  the  ears  of  others.  It  is  certain  at  any 
rate  that  he  will  act  according  to  the  saying  in  the 
comedy:  '  It  has  not  succeeded  here,  let  us  go  else- 
where.' May  the  Omnipotent  extinguish  by  celestial 
dew  this  desire  for  glory  which  glows  in  the  hearts  of 
some  !  " 

ZwingH's  first  book  on  Baptism '  was  written  in 
German  for  popular  use  and  dedicated  to  the  city 
of   St.    Gall.     In    the    dedicatory    introduction   he 


'II.,  I,  230-303.     See  list,  p.  248. 


I530]  The  Inner  Course  257 

alludes  to  the  origin  of  the  Baptist  party,  to  their 
principal  tenets  and  to  their  treatment.  The  treatise 
is  divided  into  four  parts:  i.  Baptism  in  general; 
2.  The  initia  or  institution  of  Baptism ;  3.  Re- 
baptism ;    4.   Infant  Baptism. 

The  discussion  is  prolix,  but  biblical  and  earnest. 
Much  of  it  is  directed  at  the  Baptists.  He  con- 
fesses at  the  beginning  that  no  amount  of  argument 
which  he  could  bring  to  bear  had  any  effect  upon 
the  Baptists,'  except  to  make  them  more  obstinate 
and  contemptuous,  which  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
seeing  it  was  accompanied  by  threats  of  punishment 
if  they  did  not  recant. 

Towards  the  close  he  thus  puts  together  the  pro- 
positions he  had  attempted  to  prove.  I.  Baptism 
in  general — i.  The  soul  is  cleansed  by  the  grace  of 
God  and  not  by  any  external  thing  whatsoever.  2. 
Hence  it  follows  that  baptism  cannot  wash  away 
sin.  3.  But  if  it  cannot  while  yet  it  is  divinely  in- 
stituted then  it  must  be  a  sign  of  obedience,  and 
nothing  else.  H.  Infant  Baptism — 4.  The  children 
of  Christians  are  not  less  the  children  of  God  than 
their  parents  are,  or  than  the  children  in  Old  Testa- 
ment times  were :  but  if  they  belong  to  God  who 
will  refuse  them  water  baptism  ?  5.  Circumcision 
in  the  Old  Testament  was  the  same  sign  as  bap- 
tism in  the  New  ;  so  as  the  former  was  applied  to 
children  of  the  one  so  should  baptism  be  to  those 
of  the  latter.  III.  Rebaptism — 6.  Rebaptism  is 
neither  taught  anywhere  in  the  Word  of  God,  nor 

'  II.,  I,  231  sqq. 


258  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525- 

can  an  example  or  proof  of  it  be  found  therein  ; 
therefore  those  who  practise  rebaptism  crucify 
Christ  afresh  either  out  of  self-righteousness  or  in 
order  to  do  something  novel.  After  these  propo- 
sitions he  gives  the  form  of  baptism  used  in  the 
Zurich  churches. 

Two  years  later  Zwingli  wrote  a  Latin  treatise  on 
Baptism,  primarily  for  the  use  of  the  pastors  whose 
parishes  had  been  invaded  by  the  Baptists,  but  also 
in  parts  it  is  a  direct  reply  to  the  Baptists  them- 
selves. It  is  important  as  giving  his  maturer  thought 
and  still  more  for  its  quotations,  but  its  temper  is 
bad  and  its  style  contemptuous.  It  betrays  its 
animus  in  its  title  '/  Refutation  of  the  Tricks  of  the 
Catabaptists."  '  The  baptism  of  these  dissenters, 
Zwingli  says,*  is  pseudo  baptism.  Hence  he  calls 
them  Catabaptists  {i.e.,  drowners).  The  term  itself 
was  considered  an  unanswerable  argument. 

It  is  very  noteworthy  that  in  neither  of  these 
lengthy  treatises  nor  in  the  quotations  from  Bap- 
tist   writings    in    the    second,    is    the    question    of 


'  Printed  by  Christopher  Froschauer,  Zurich,  1527,  8vo,  pp.  191  ; 
reprinted  in  volume  with  letter  by  QLcolampadius  and  Zwingli, 
edited  by  Bibliander  (Basel),  8vo,  1548  (ii.,  8ib-ii3b),  and  in  re- 
print of  latter  by  Grynaeus  (Basel),  1592,  i2mo,  pp.  371-520.  In 
Zwingli's  Works,  iii.,  35S-437. 

*III.,  392.  The  word  is  traced  to  Gregory  Nazianzen's  Oration 
on  Baptism,  delivered  in  381.  In  536  a  Constantinopolitan 
synod  called  the  baptistery  of  heretics  a  Katabaptisterion,  i.  e., 
the  place  where  persons  were  so  dipped  that  they  were  drowned. 
Equally  opprobrious  is  the  term  Anabaptist  applied  to  the  Bap- 
tist party,  i.  e.,  those  who  baptised  again  in  years  of  discretion 
those   previously   baptised   in   infancy.      But   the    Baptists   denied 


I530]  The  Inner  Course  259 

immersion  or  sprinkling  even  so  much  as  touched 
upon.  The  primitive  Baptists  attacked  infant  bap- 
tism. They  considered  it  of  minor  consequence 
whether  the  water  in  baptism  was  a  drop  or  a 
deluge. 

The  book  appeared  Wednesday,  July  31,  1527, 
just  about  the  time  that  Zurich  had  invited  Bern, 
Schaffhausen,  Chur,  and  St.  Gall  to  send  delegates 
to  a  disputation  on  the  Baptists  to  be  held  on  Fri- 
day, August  2d,  and  in  the  letter  had  informed  them 
that  as  the  result  of  a  disputation  held  among  them- 
selves it  was  determined  to  punish  those  administer- 
ing immersion  with  submersion,  /.  c,  drowning,  and 
other  less  offending  members  of  the  Baptist  party 
with  scourging  or  other  punishments,  according  to 
their  guilt ;  that  still  the  heresy  was  on  the  increase ; 
and  that  it  was  not  merely  religiously  but  morally 
subversive.  A  monitory  letter  was  sent  to  Con- 
stance and  Augsburg  also  that  they  should  beware 
of  Denk,  who  was  visiting  "  Catabaptists  "  within 
and  without  their  walls.' 

On  September  9,  1527,  Zurich,  Bern,  and  St. 
Gall  published  an  edict,  in  which  for  the  first  time 
the  alleged  errors  and  crimes  of  the  Baptist  party 
are  set  forth  ' ;  viz. : 


that  they  did  this  ;  rather  they  affirmed  that  the  use  of  water  in  the 
name  of  the  Trinity  over  a  babe  was  no  baptism  at  all,  and  hence 
that  they  did  not  rebaptise  anyone.  They  administered  true  bap- 
tism for  the  first  time  to  those  who  after  confession  of  faith  desired 
the  rite. 

'  HI.,  357. 

*  The  edict  is  given  in  full  in  German  in  Simler's  Sammlung 


26o  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525- 

"  They  seduce  men  from  the  congregations  of  the  ortho- 
dox teachers  and  assail  the  public  preachers  with  abuse; 
they  babble  in  corners,  woods,  and  fields;  contract  spirit- 
ual marriages,  thereby  giving  occasion  for  adulteries; 
even  command  crime  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  e.g.,  the 
parricide  at  St.  Gall;  glory  in  divine  revelations  and 
miracles;  teach  that  the  Devil  will  be  saved,  and  that  in 
their  church  one  could  indulge  lust  without  crime;  had 
other  signs  of  a  league  aside  from  catabaptism  ;  would 
not  carry  swords ;  pronounced  principal  and  interest 
wicked  ;  would  have  all  external  goods  common  and 
deposited  in  the  midst  of  them,  so  that  no  one  could 
use  them  as  his  own  peculiar  right  ;  forbade  Christians 
to  accept  the  magistracy  or  to  execute  an  oath.  In 
order  that  this  growth,  dangerous  to  Christianity,  wicked, 
harmful,  turbulent,  seditious,  may  be  eradicated,  we 
have  thus  decreed:  if  any  one  is  suspected  of  catabap- 
tism he  is  to  be  warned  by  the  magistracy  to  leave  off, 
under  penalty  of  the  designated  punishment.  Indi- 
viduals as  the  civil  contract  obliges  should  inform  upon 
those  favourable  to  catabaptism.  Whoever  shall  not  fit 
his  conduct  to  this  dissuasion  is  liable  to  punishment 
according  to  the  opinion  of  the  magistracy  and  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case  ;  teachers,  baptising  preachers,  itiner- 
ants and  leaders  of  conventicles,  or  those  previously 
released  from  prison  and  who  have  sworn  to  desist  from 
such  things,  are  to  be  drowned.  Foreigners,  their  faith 
being  pledged,  are  to  be  driven  out,  if  they  return  are  to 
be  drowned.  No  one  is  allowed  to  secede  from  the 
Church  and  absent  himself  from  the  Holy  Supper.  Men 
led  into  the  error  by  fraud  may  receive  a  mitigation  of 

alter  und  neuer  Urkunden  zur  Beleuehfttitg  dcr  Kircheugcschichte 
vornemlick  des  ScJnueizcr-Landes  (i.,  2,  449-458),  The  summary  in 
Zwingli's  Works  (iii.,  357-358)  is  here  used. 


I530]  The  Inner  Course  261 

their  punishment  in  proportion  to  their  property  and 
standing.  Whoever  flees  from  one  jurisdiction  to  an- 
other shall  be  banished  or  given  up  on  demand." 

It  was  then  in  view  of  this  legislation  that  Zwingli 
produced  his  "  Refutation,"  and  it  was  intended  to 
be  final.  It  is  in  the  form  of  verbal  quotation  from 
witness  accepted  by  the  Baptists  with  a  reply. 

In  Part  I.  he  thus  quotes  a  treatise,  written  prob- 
ably by  Conrad  Grebel,  which  was  much  admired 
and  read  among  the  Zurich  Baptists,  and  in  which 
Zwingli  is  set  forth  as  supporting  more  or  less 
heartily  all  their  tenets.  Zwingli  pleaded  that  he 
was  misunderstood,  misquoted,  and  intentionally 
slandered,  and  his  ruffed  spirits  are  the  only  justifi- 
cation of  the  treatment  he  gave  the  Baptists.  But 
his  refutation  is  prolix,  abusive,  and  weak.  He 
accuses  the  Baptists  of  hypocrisy  and  immorality 
and  quotes  instances.  As  Zwingli  was  an  honest 
man  and  had  exceptional  sources  of  information, 
what  he  says  cannot  be  pooh-poohed.'  Rather  is 
it  likely  that  the  persecutions  of  the  Baptists  had 
increased  the  tendency  to  fanaticism  and  insubordi- 
nation among  the  ignorant  membership  so  recently 
emancipated  from  Roman  Catholic  superstition,  and 
so  liberty  was  occasionally  turned  into  licence  and 
the  confidence  of  some  women  in  the  supposed  holi- 
ness of  these  Baptist  saints,  who  claimed  to  be  the 
proper  rulers  of  mankind,  was  abused.  But  that 
the  sect  was  corrupt   or   hypocritical  is  a   charge 

'  See  the  direct  charges  posited  on  personal  knowledge  (iii.,  382 


262  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525- 

which  refutes  itself.  And  even  if  it  were  true,  the 
modern  Baptists  are  not  responsible  for  the  doings 
of  their  religious  forbears. 

In  Part  II.  Zwingli  treats  in  the  same  fashion, 
quoting  verbally  and  refuting,  the  Confession  of 
Faith  drawn  up  by  the  Bernese  Baptists.  The 
Confession  was  not  published,  but  was  widely 
circulated  in  manuscript  among  the  Baptists.  It 
bore  the  title  "  Articles  which  we  have  drawn  up 
and  to  which  we  agree,  viz..  Baptism  ;  Excommu- 
nication ;  Breaking  of  Bread  ;  Avoidance  of  abom- 
inable pastors  in  the  Church ;  the  Sword  ;  the 
Oath." 

Zwingli  treats  the  Confession  with  great  scorn 
and  attempts  its  refutation  in  a  bad  spirit.  He 
addresses  himself  directly  to  the  Baptists,  in  most 
cases.  And  yet  the  Confession  is  witness  to  the 
fact  that  the  excesses  and  occasional  immoralities 
of  the  sect  were  dire  contradictions  to  its  pure  and 
lofty  principles.  Blind  to  this,  Zwingli  repeats 
again  the  injurious  remarks  on  the  morals  of  the 
Baptists  because  he  believed  they  were  abundantly 
justified  and  he  was  dealing  with  a  party  which  he 
regarded  as  a  danger  to  Church  and  State.  Take 
especially  the  quoted  teaching  of  the  Confession  re- 
specting the  Sword,  i.  c,  civil  authority,  and  against 
the  use  of  the  oath.  In  this  connection  he  tells  in 
a  jeering  manner  the  shameful  story  of  the  infamous 
treatment  accorded  poor  Blaurock  in  this  para- 
graph ' : 

•  III.,  412,  413. 


I530]  The  Inner  Course  263 

"  (8)  They  rightly  admonish  us  that  Christ  taught  that 
our  speech  should  be  Yea,  Yea,  and  Nay,  Nay;  yet  they 
do  not  seem  to  me  to  understand  it  clearly,  or  if  they  do 
understand  it  to  obey  it.  For  though  in  many  places 
they  should  often  have  said  Yea,  it  has  never  been  Yea. 
When  those  leaders  were  banished,  against  whom  we 
wrote  as  best  we  could,  and  asked  for  an  oath  they 
would  not  reply  except  to  the  effect  that  through  the 
faith  which  they  had  in  God  they  knew  they  would  never 
return,  and  yet  they  soon  returned.  '  The  Father,'  each 
said,  '  led  me  back  through  His  will.'  I  know  very  well 
that  it  was  the  father  —  of  lies  who  led  them  back;  but 
they  pretend  to  know  it  was  the  Heavenly  Father.  Here 
is  something  worth  telling:  When  that  George  (whom 
they  all  call  a  second  Paul)  of  the  House  of  Jacob 
[Blaurock],  was  cudgelled  with  rods  among  us  even  to 
the  infernal  gate  and  was  asked  by  an  ofificer  of  the 
Council  to  take  oath  and  lift  up  his  hands  [in  affirma- 
tion], he  at  first  refused,  as  he  had  often  done  before 
and  had  persisted  in  doing.  Indeed  he  had  always  said 
that  he  would  rather  die  than  take  an  oath.  The  officer 
of  the  Council  then  ordered  him  forthwith  to  lift  his 
hands  and  make  oath  at  once,  'or  do  you,  policemen,'  he 
said,  '  lead  him  to  prison.'  But  now  persuaded  by  rods 
this  George  of  the  House  of  Jacob  raised  his  hand  to 
heaven  and  followed  the  magistrate  in  the  recitation  of 
the  oath.  So  here  you  have  the  question  confronting 
you,  Catabaptists,  whether  that  Paul  of  yours  did  or  did 
not  transgress  the  law.  The  law  forbids  to  swear  about 
the  least  thing:  he  swore,  so  he  transgressed  the  law. 
Hence  this  knot  is  knit:  You  would  be  separated  from 
the  world,  from  lies,  from  those  who  walk  not  according 
to  the  resurrection  of  Christ  but  in  dead  works  ?  How 
then  is  it  that  you  have  not  excommunicated  that  Apos- 


264  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1525- 

tate  ?  Your  Yea  is  not  Yea  with  you  nor  your  Nay,  Nay, 
but  the  contrary  ;  your  Yea  is  Nay  and  your  Nay,  Yea. 
You  follow  neither  Christ  nor  your  own  constitution."  ' 

Part  III,  is  subdivided:  (a)  The  two  covenants. 
That  which  God  made  with  Israel  included  infants. 
Circumcision  was  the  external  sign  of  this  covenant. 
Christians  are  the  heirs  of  Israel ;  with  them  He  has 
made  a  new  covenant,  in  which  the  children  are  in- 
cluded, of  which  baptism  is  the  external  sign,  (b) 
Election,  which  Zwingli  says  is  above  baptism,  cir- 
cumcision, faith  and  preaching,  (c)  That  the  Apos- 
tles baptised  infants. 

These  three  parts  are  followed  by  a  brief  but  most 
interesting  appendix,  in  which  he  taxes  the  Baptists 
with  teaching  (i)  the  sleep  of  the  soul ;  (2)  the  salva- 
tion of  the  devil  and  of  all  the  wicked ;  (3)  the  right 
of  Christians  universally  to  exercise  the  ofifice  of 
preacher;  (4)  the  right  occasionally  to  deny  Scrip- 
ture and  follow  the  inner  revelation  of  the  Spirit. 
These  errors  he  curtly  refutes. 

After  this  Zwingli  wrote  nothing  of  great  length 
against  the  Baptists.  His  last  published  utterance 
was  in  reply  to  the  questions  of  Caspar  Schwenck- 
feld."  In  it  he  developed  further  his  idea  of  the  re- 
lation of  election  to  baptism,  which  was  apparently 
this:  by  election  God  secured  the  salvation  of  some. 
Children  of  Christians  belong  by  birth  to  the  visible 
Church,  but  this  Church  includes  both  the  elect  and 


'  Can  anything  be  more  contemptible  than  this   gloating  over  a 
poor  tortured  wretch  ? 
«  In  Latin,  iii.,  563-5S8, 


I530]  The  Inner  Course  265 

the  rejected.  As  no  one  can  determine  which  is 
which,  it  would  be  an  injustice  to  refuse  any  such 
child  baptism,  which  is  the  outward  sign  of  election. 
But  baptism  is  only  a  sign  of  grace  and  does  not 
confer  it. 

In  consequence  of  the  cruel  treatment  they  re- 
ceived, the  Baptists  after  a  time  ceased  to  exist  in 
the  canton  of  Zurich  except  in  very  small  and  scat- 
tered gatherings.  Zwingli's  attacks  upon  them  were 
greatly  admired  by  his  fellow  religionists  in  and 
outside  of  Zurich.  They  found  no  fault  with  his 
harsh  and  cruel  jibes,  his  exaggerated  tales  and 
coarse  anecdotes.  They  did  not  mind  his  prolixity. 
As  for  his  arguments,  they  considered  them  un- 
answerable. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

THE   FINAL  STAGE   OF   THE   ZWINGLIAN   REFORMA- 
TION 

1 524-1 529 

THE  years  of  Zwingli's  life  from  1524  to  1529 
may  properly  receive  comparatively  brief  men- 
tion. They  were  very  busy,  interesting,  and  even 
exciting  for  him,  but  not  so  important  as  the  former 
years.  The  work  of  breaking  with  the  Old  Church 
had  been  completed:  only  the  adjustment  of  the 
churches  of  the  canton  of  Zurich  to  the  new  state 
of  things,  the  defence  of  their  faith  and  polity 
against  all  comers  —  restless  peasants,  more  deter- 
mined Baptists,  Lutherans,  and  adherents  of  the 
Old  Church  —  remained.  But  the  students  of  sys- 
tematic theology,  of  ecclesiastical  polity,  and  of 
liturgies  may  consider  these  closing  years  of  Zwingli's 
life  his  more  fruitful  years.  The  ordinary  reader 
desires  to  know  what  was  actually  done  during  this 
period  and  may  be  told  in  a  few  pages,  the  peasant 
and  Baptist  troubles  having  been  separately  treated 
in  the  preceding  chapter.  The  successive  topics 
which  claimed  Zwingli's  attention  are  brought  out 
in  his  correspondence. 

On  January  14,  1525,'  he  felt  called  upon  to  write 
a  very  eloquent  epistle  to  the  Dreibund,  the  magis- 

*  VII.,  380-383  ;  Latin  trans.,  378-380. 
266 


[1524-1529]  The  Final  Stagfe 


tracy  of  Rh?ctia,  the  modern  canton  of  the  Grisons, 
in  which  the  Reformation  had  begun  to  make  head- 
way, urging  these  gentlemen  to  protect  those  who 
professed  it,  and  also  defending  himself  and  fellow 
Zurichers  against  the  charge  of  sedition.  He- ap- 
peals to  them  to  state  if  it  is  not  true  that  the 
Church  of  Rome  is  hopelessly  corrupt  and  grasping. 

The  next  day  the  City  Councils  issued  an  import- 
ant order  respecting  the  public  relief  of.  the  poor 
and  sick.  Some  of  the  regulations  are  singular;  as, 
for  instance,  requiring  church-going  on  the  part  of 
beneficiaries  and,  more  objectionably,  to  wear  a  dis- 
tinctive badge,  thereby  publishing  their  condition. 
It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Zurich  City 
Fathers  in  the  sixteenth  century  should  make  any 
approach  to  scientific  charity,  with  its  exact  registra- 
tion and  rigid  investigation  of  the  applicants,  and 
which  demands  that  there  shall  not  be  any  public 
outdoor  relief.  The  Zurich  Councillors,  however, 
honestly  endeavoured  to  distinguish  between  the 
applicants,  sorting  out  first  the  genuine  Zurichers 
from  the  strangers,  and  then  among  the  Zurichers 
giving  alms  as  far  as  possible  only  to  those  who 
through  no  fault  were  in  need.' 

Another  important  piece  of  internal  regulation, 
viz.,  relative  to  marriage  and  divorce,  inspired  and 
formulated  by  Zwingli,"  was  passed  by  the  Councils 
on  May  10,  1525.'     Briefly,  marriages  were  usually 

'See  the  ordinance  in  Egli,  A.   S.,  619;  in  modern  German  in 
Morikofer,  i.,  252-255. 
*  II.,  2,  356-359. 
•Egli,  A,  S.,  711 ;  in  modern  German  in  Morikofer,  i.,  260-262. 


268  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524- 

to  be  public,  in  churches,  and  with  the  consent  of 
parents  or  guardians.  Even  though  the  discovery 
should  soon  be  made  that  the  parties  were  unfitted 
for  living  together,  still  they  are  to  live  together  for 
a  year,  and  then  they  may  be  divorced.  Divorces 
may  be  granted  for  other  causes.  Adultery  is  a 
crime  to  be  severely  punished  by  the  authorities. 
So  also  seduction  and  like  offences  when  marriage 
cannot  be  arranged.  Those  who  commit  adultery 
hoping  thereby  to  secure  a  divorce  and  so  be  free  to 
contract  another  marriage,  or  to  live  unchastely, 
were  to  be  excommunicated  and  for  ever  banished. 
By  thus  claiming  for  Zurich  the  adjudication  of  the 
matrimonial  cases  the  break  with  the  past  was  still 
further  emphasised,  as  formerly  all  such  cases  came 
to  the  episcopal  court  in  Constance. 

On  June  30,  1525,  he  published  his  book  on  the 
office  of  the  preacher,  with  a  dedication  to  his  fellow 
Toggenburgers.'  It  was  really  directed  against  the 
Baptists,  who  claimed  that  all  the  Lord's  people  were 
prophets. 

In  September,  1525,  Zwingli's  windows  were 
broken  by  two  drunken  fellows;  but  the  offence 
was  magnified  until  it  seemed  as  if  Zwingli's  life 
were  in  danger,  because  underneath  the  drunken 
conduct  was  deep  hatred  of  Zwingli's  teaching. 
But  that  so  trivial  an  offence  should  have  caused 
such  a  stir  is  a  plain  indication  that  Zwingli  lived  a 
very  quiet  and  secure  life.' 

On  October  28th,  Zwingli,  under  the  pen-name  of 

'  II.,  I,  304-336  ;  in  modern  German  by  Christoffel,  Zurich,  1843. 
''VII.,  409-412. 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  269 

"  A  certain  Frenchman,"  addressed  a  long  letter  to 
"  A  citizen  of  Basel,"  in  criticism  of  Erasmus's  view 
on  the  Eucharist.'  In  March,  1525,  Zwingli  pub- 
lished his  "  Commentary  on  the  True  and  False 
Religion,"'  which  goes  over  in  a  series  of  chapters 
all  the  points  of  evangelical  theology.  He  wrote 
it,  he  says  in  three  and  one  half  months,  in  Latin, 
for  general  circulation,  especially  in  France,  thus 
redeeming  his  promise  to  French  friends :  and  so 
he  dedicated  it  to  King  Francis  I.  It  resembles 
the  exposition  of  the  sixt3^-seven  theses  already 
mentioned.  The  part  on  the  Lord's  Supper  was 
separately  issued  in  a  German  translation.  It  was 
of  this  book  that  Erasmus  made  his  famous  patro- 
nising remark:  "  Oh,  good  Zwingli,  what  have  you 
written  which  I  did  not  write  myself  long  before!  "  ' 
On  April  14,  1525,  Zwingli  was  chosen  rector  of 
the  Carolinum,  the  Great  Minster  school;  conse- 
quently he  moved  into  the  ofificial  residence  of  the 
rector,  and  lived  there  until  death.*     He  used  his 


'  VII.,  427-432.  CEcolampadius,  to  whom  very  lively  it  was  sent, 
praises  it  (vii.,  432). 

^  III.,  147-325.  Herminyard  reprints  a  part  of  the  dedication  in  a 
French  translation,  in  his  Correspondance  des  Refortnateurs  (2d  ed,, 
Geneva,  1878),  i.,  pp.  350,  351. 

3  VII.,  399. 

^This  is  the  house  which  contains  the  present  Zwingli  room,  upon 
the  second  story,  shown  to  travellers.  It  is  on  the  Kirch  Gasse,  on 
the  left  hand  as  one  goes  up  the  street  from  the  Great  Minster,  and 
near  the  corner  of  the  cathedral  close.  On  it  is  the  inscription: 
"  Zwingli's  official  residence.  From  this  house  he  went  forth  on 
October  11,  1531,  with  the  Zurich  troops  to  Cappel,  where  he  died 
for  his  faith."     The  room  in  it  called  his  study  and  the  adjoining 


270  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524- 

new  position  to  improve  the  schools  and  took  part 
himself  in  the  biblical  instruction,  which  he  had 
made  part  of  the  curriculum.  That  he  was  still 
fond  of  humanistic  studies  and  had  not  forgotten 
his  Greek  amid  all  his  absorbing  labours,  he  demon- 
strated by  issuing  on  February  24,  1526,  in  Basel, 
an  edition  of  the  poems  of  Pindar.' 

In  1526  a  public  disputation  was  held  between 
the  representatives  of  the  Bishop  of  Constance  and 
of  the  Reformed  upon  matters  of  faith.  The  place 
chosen  was  Baden,  a  famous  watering-place,  only 
twelve  miles  north-west  of  Zurich,  but  in  the  hands 
of  the  bitterest  partisans  of  the  Roman  Church. 
Under  the  semblance  of  fairness  and  impartiality 
the  object  of  the  disputation  was  really  to  condemn 
Zwingli  and  Zurich  for  their  opposition  to  the 
Roman  Church,  and  considering  the  character  of 
the  crowd  who  would  there  assemble,  it  was  more 
than  doubtful  if  Zwingli  would  have  escaped  per- 
sonal violence  if  he  had  ventured  thither."  As  it 
was,  though  urged,  he  declined  to  go. 

The  disputation  at  Baden  was  the  Old  Church's 
reply  to  the  Zurich  disputations  of  1523,  The  con- 
ditions were  exactly  reversed.  The  friends  of  the 
Reformation  packed  the  former,  the  opponents  of 
it  the  latter.     The  immediate  occasion  of  it  was 


room  called  his  bedroom  may  be,  as  claimed,  the  same  as  they  were 
in  his  day,  but  the  rest  of  the  house,  as  is  the  case  with  the  other 
Zwingli  houses,  has  been  reconstructed. 

'  His  Latin  preface  and  epilogue  are  given  in  iv.,  159-166. 

'  So  his  brother-in-law,  Tremp,  warned  him  from  Bern  not  to 
venture  thither,  as  he  had  heard  alarming  reports  (vii.,  483), 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  271 

John  Eck's  offer  from  Ingolstadt  to  the  Swiss  Diet 
at  Baden,  on  August  13,  1524,  to  refute  ZwingH's 
heresies  in  a  public  disputation.'  The  challenge 
was  communicated  to  Zwingli,  and  he  replied  to 
this  on  August  31st,  in  the  insulting  language  he 
thought  proper  to  use  towards  his  Roman  Catholic 
opponents,  offering  to  debate  with  Eck  in  Zurich.' 
Eck  replied  very  dignifiedly  that  he  would  meet 
Zwingli  at  Baden  or  Luzern,  provided  he  had  proper 
safe  conduct.  He  shows  much  better  spirit  than 
Zwingli.'  The  letter  having  been  sent  to  the  Zurich 
authorities,  Zwingli  replied  that  he  would  dispute  in 
Zurich,  and  his  reply  appeared  in  print.*  And  on 
the  same  day,  November  6,  1524,  the  Great  Council 
invited  Eck  to  Zurich  and  sent  him  a  safe  conduct.^ 
But  he  declined  to  come,  simply  because  the  place 
for  the  proposed  disputation  was  to  be  decided  by 
the  cantonal  assembly  and  he  would  meet  Zwingli 
there.  On  November  i8th  he  replied  at  length  to 
Zwingli's  latest  attack. 

In  1525  the  project  of  the  disputation  was  revived. 
The  Bishop  of  Constance  chose  Baden  as  the  place. 
Zwingli  declared  his  willingness,  if  necessary,  to 
go  to  Schaffhausen  or  St.  Gall,  but  the  city  Great 
Council  refused  him  permission  to  go  out  of  Zurich. 
The  Diet  at  Luzern,  on  January  15,  1526,  deter- 
mined on  Baden  as  the  place  and  May  16,  1526,  as 
the  time.  Zwingli's  correspondence  of  1526  shows 
clearly  the  course  of  events.     After  the  disputation 


'  II.,  2,  399,  400,  '  II.,  2,  400-403.  ^  II.,  2,  403-405. 

*  II.,  2,  411-414.  '  BuUinger,  i.,  334  sqq. 


272  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524- 

was  determined  upon  there  was  uncertainty  in  re- 
gard to  the  place.  Bern  favoured  Basel.  Other 
cantons  wanted  Luzern.  CEcolampadius  naturally 
preferred  Bern.  Zwingli  did  not  want  to  go  out  of 
Zurich.'  Perhaps  his  physical  condition  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  it.  CEcolampadius,  on  March  7, 
1526,  alluded  to  his  having  ulcers."  Zwingli  him- 
self, writing  to  Vadianus  on  Friday,  March  30th,' 
tells  of  an  alarming  attack  of  illness  which  had  oc- 
curred that  day.  On  April  16,  1526,  Zwingli  wrote 
a  long  letter  *  to  the  City  Council  of  Bern  giving 
his  reasons  why  he  would  not  go  to  Baden  for  the 
disputation,  although  anxious  to  debate  in  such  a 
presence.  The  nine  reasons  amount  to  this — that 
the  safe  conduct  and  protection  which  Bern  pro- 
mised were  really  valueless  under  the  circumstances 
because  at  Baden  the  Five  Forest  Cantons,  Uri, 
Schwyz,  Unterwalden,  Luzern,  and  Zug,  devoted 
to  the  old  teaching,  would  outvote  the  other  three 
cantons  of  Zurich,  Bern,  and  Basel,  devoted  to  the 
new.  He  then  proceeds  to  give  his  reasons  for  de- 
clining to  go  to  any  place  where  the  Five  Cantons 
had  control,  i.  Those  cantons  had  condemned  him 
unheard  as  a  heretic  and  burnt  his  books.  2.  They 
still  persist  in  doing  so.  3.  They  have  avowedly 
gotten  up  the  disputation  for  the  purpose  of  silencing 
him.  4.  As  they  have  ordered  him  arrested,  con- 
trary to  federal  law,  what  value  would  their  safe 
conduct    have  ?      5.    They   are  bound   by    mutual 


» VII.,  476.  « VII.,  479.  'VII.,  484. 

■*  VII.,  493-496  ;  also  in  the  original  German,  pp.  496-499. 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  273 

vows  to  uproot  the  faith  he  professed.  6.  Their 
negotiations  for  the  disputation  were  with  Eck  and 
Faber  exclusively,  not  with  him,  he  not  being  in  any 
way  consulted.  7.  While  Eck's  and  Faber's  writings 
are  freely  circulated  in  the  Five  Cantons,  his  were 
suppressed.  8.  He  had  two  years  before  plainly 
told  Eck  and  company  that  under  no  consideration 
would  he  go  to  Baden  or  Luzern. 

Very  naturally  the  Five  Cantons  insisted  upon 
Baden. 

On  April  21,  1526,  Zwingli  addressed  "  A  friendly 
letter  to  the  confederates  of  the  Twelve  Cantons 
and  their  allies,  upon  the  disputation  which  is  pro- 
jected at  Baden  on  the  i6th  of  May."  '  He  read  it 
before  the  Council  and  then  sent  it  in  in  printed 
form.  It  gives  his  reasons  for  declining  to  go  to 
Baden.  The  next  day  in  writing  to  Vadianus  he 
says: 

"  Even  if  I  agreed  to  Baden,  the  people  of  Zurich 
would  not  consent.  A  great  part  of  the  Council  were 
not  very  well  pleased  because  I  offered  to  go  to  Bern  or 
St.  Gall.  It  would  seem  wise  for  you  to  agree  to  reply 
to  the  opposing  cantons  somewhat  as  follows:  That  you 
had  been  at  the  disputations  at  Zurich,  that  there  they 
are  sufficiently  learned  and  had  no  need  of  further  dis- 
putations, etc.,  unless  other  places  were  selected."  "^ 

Probably  shortly  after  he  had  despatched  this 
letter  he  received  an  open  one  from  Faber, ^  his  for- 
mer friend,  dated  Tuebingen,  April  i6th,  in  which 


»II.,  2,  424-429.  2  VII.,  £;oo.  ^ij^  2,  429-436. 

18 


2  74  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524- 

he  was  vigorously  handled  as  a  heretic.  Zwingli 
took  it  up  almost  clause  by  clause  for  refutation,  on 
April  30th,  and  again  on  May  15th.'  The  nine 
cantons  renewed  their  request  for  his  presence  but 
the  Council  refused  it  at  the  Diet  at  Baden  held  on 
May  loth,  and  to  which  they  sent  a  delegation. 
Zwingli  wrote  at  the  same  time.  Thus  the  matter 
was  discussed  back  and  forth.  But  without  altering 
the  determination  on  either  side  and  the  disputa- 
tion finally  opened  at  Baden,  on  Monday,  May  21st, 
in  the  absence  of  Zwingli.' 

On  the  Old  Church  side  the  principal  champion 
was  John  Eck,  who  really  was  a  skilful  and  learned 
disputant,  and  who  had,  as  he  and  the  Old  Church 
party  believed,  won  such  a  notable  victory  over 
Luther  at  Leipzig  in  1518;  on  the  side  of  the 
Zwinglian  party  CEcolampadius,  of  Basel,  Haller, 
of  Bern,  and  Oechsli,  of  Schaffhausen,  carried  on 
the  debate.  Zwingli  was  kept  constantly  informed 
of  the  proceedings  and  constantly  aided  his  repre- 


'  II.,  2,  436-453,  467-484.  In  his  letter  to  Vadianus  on  May  nth 
(vii.,  503),  he  says  :  "  Faber  has  written  against  my  former  epistle 
in  which  I  set  forth  my  refusal  to  go  to  Baden.  There  I  find  the 
man  far  funnier  than  before.  ...  If  the  Disputation  at  Baden 
does  anything  that  opposes  the  Word  of  God,  the  people  are  not  will- 
ing to  receive  in  regard  to  it  either  propositions  or  commands.  They 
will  cherish  the  treaties  honourably.  If  violence  be  offered  to  Zurich 
or  any  of  the  cantons,  they  will  furnish  aid  to  the  wronged.  In  the 
government  of  the  provinces  they  will  follow  this  rule,  not  to  sit 
when  Zurich  is  not  represented.  .  .  .  The  Council  refuses  me 
to  the  Disputation  at  Baden.  I  have  written  a  frank  but  kindly 
letter  to  the  Diet"  {cf.  ii.,  2,  455-459). 

*  The  papers  connected  with  this  Diet  at  Baden  are  collected  (ii,, 
2,  398-520).     They  are  all  in  German. 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  275 

sentatives  by  suggestions  and  every  other  way  he 
could.' 

The  debate  lasted  four  weeks,  or  till  June  i8th. 
Both  sides,  as  usual,  claimed  the  victory.  The  acts 
were  published  in  full  at  Luzern  on  May  i8,  1527* 
which  probably  was  not  too  long  a  delay,  although 
made  a  cause  of  complaint  and  construed  as  a  con- 
fession of  defeat  by  the  Zwingli  party." 

On  July  2,  1526,^  Zwingli  wrote  a  long  and  earn- 
est letter,  which  is  almost  a  treatise,  to  Nuremberg 
because  his  and  Qicolampadius's  writings  had  been 
prohibited  there,  and  therein  took  occasion  to  ex- 
press himself  very  plainly  upon  his  theology  of  the 
Eucharist,  mainly  in  reply  to  Pirkheimer.  * 

'  The  Zwingli  correspondence  enables  us  to  get  a  vivid  picture  of 
the  debate.  It  shows  that  down  to  May  2ist,  (licolampadius  tried  to 
have  the  place  changed  and  that  he  recognised  the  peril  Zwingli  would 
have  been  in  by  going  to  Baden,  notwithstanding  the  emphatic  and 
reiterated  promise  of  safe  conduct.  But  then,  as  he  says,  he  was  in 
peril  too.  The  fact  is,  Zwingli's  absence  was  deplored  by  his  friends. 
Myconius,  writing  years  afterward,  says  :  "  Zwingli  laboured  more  in 
running  about,  cogitating,  watching,  counselling,  warning,  writing 
both  letters  and  books  which  he  sent  to  Baden,  than  he  would  have 
done  had  he  taken  part  in  the  Disputation  or  been  in  the  midst  of  his 
foes,  particularly  against  a  chief  so  unskilled  in  the  truth.  Still 
I  have  for  my  part  desired  nothing  more  earnestly  than  that  he  had 
been  permitted  to  take  part  personally"  (p.  lo). 

^  An  incomplete  report  was  published  in  July  of  the  year  before 
(vii.,  524).  CEcolampadius  sent  Zwingli  on  October  18,  1526,  a 
summary  of  the  contents  of  the  official  report,  which  had  been 
carefully  edited  to  put  the  Reformed  at  a  disadvantage  (vii.,  553). 
Zwingli  tohl  the  Strassburgers  in  December,  1526  (vii.,  578)  that 
signature  G  of  it  had  been  seized  when  on  its  way  from  Murner  to 
the  Suffragan  Bishop  of  Constance. 

3  VIII.,  656-662. 

■*  On  July  17th  a  friend  told  him  that  his  and  CEcolampadius's  writ- 
ings would  not  be  sold  at  Nuremberg  under  heavy  penalty  (vii.,  526). 


276  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524- 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  Zwingli  watched  the 
politics  of  his  neighbours  with  keen  interest,  but 
with  the  advancement  of  the  Gospel  interests  ever 
in  view.  On  August  31,  1526/  he  wrote  a  very- 
gossipy  letter  full  of  information,  telling  how  Eck 
used  at  Baden  the  Complutensian  Polyglot,  which 
had  the  Latin  version  side  by  side  with  the  Hebrew 
and  the  Greek,  and  so  by  apparently  reading  un- 
aided from  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  got  a  reputation 
for  learning  he  did  not  deserve;  and  how  poor  Bal- 
thasar  Hubmaier,  in  his  examination  before  the 
Council,  quoted  Zwingli's  remarks  about  catechu- 
mens, as  showing  his  former  preference  to  have  bap- 
tism follow  instruction  °;  how  he  recanted  and  then 
withdrew  his  recantation;  and  how  generously 
Zwingli  treated  him,  and  how  basely  Hubmaier  re- 
viled him  when  escaped  from  the  city.  He  closes 
with  some  slighting  remarks  upon  Luther:  "  I  think 
you  are  too  solicitous  in  the  matter  of  that  man  who 
is  said  to  be  writing  against  me  in  German  and  Latin 
on  the  Eucharist.  In  nothing  do  I  promise  myself 
a  more  certain  victory." 

On  September  17,  1526,'  he  complained  of  being 
sick.  On  October  29th, ^  he  confesses  to  personal 
acquaintance  with  the  gravel.  On  November  29th, ^ 
he  tells  of  the  execution  of  Jacob  Grebel,  the  father 
of  Conrad,  for  treason,  and  of  his  wrong-doing 
towards  his  son's  wife;  that  his  (Zwingli's)  book 
against  Dr.  Jacob  Strauss  would  be  out  before 
Christmas,  and  that  he  had  not  yet  begun  his  reply 

'VII.,  534-538.  2  See  p.  246.  =*  VII.,  538. 

*  VII.,  556.  5  VII.,  565. 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  277 

to  Luther,  but  would  have  it  ready  for  the  Frank- 
fort Fair,'  In  a  letter  which  was  "  written  at  Zu- 
rich in  the  hour  which  precedes  the  eclipse  (since 
we  are  measuring  all  by  the  moon),  1526,"  conse- 
quently on  Tuesday,  December  iSth,"  he  mentions 
that  the  Acts  of  the  Disputation  at  Baden  were 
passing  through  the  press  and  would  have  a  very 
partisan  preface ;  that  he  had  prepared  a  catechism 
for  boys';  that  he  had  finished  his  reply  to  Dr. 
Jacob  Strauss  upon  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  it  was 
not  yet  in  type,*  and  says  again  that  the  expostula- 
tion with  Luther  upon  the  same  subject  would  be 
ready  for  the  Frankfort  F'air.* 

Zwingli  in  January,  1527,  wrote  to  the  Bernese 
delegates  at  Baden  to  secure  an  authentic  copy  of 
the  report  of  the  Baden  disputation  of  the  previous 
summer  and  also  proposed  another  disputation  at 
Zurich,  Bern,  Basel,  or  St.  Gall.  On  January  nth, 
he  issued  his  reply  to  Dr.  Jacob  Strauss  upon  the 


'  So  in  letter  of  Dec.  iSth. 

*  VII.,  578-579.  For  the  information  that  this  was  the  date  of  the 
eclipse  and  that  it  was  total  at  Zurich  I  am  indebted  to  Professor 
Harold  Jacoby,  of  Columbia  University,  New  York  City. 

^  This  was  not  printed  till  1544. 

*  It  appeared  on  January  11,  T527. 

^  It  appeared  February  28,  1527.  See  p.  298.  The  Frankfort 
Fair  was  the  great  book  mart.  Zwingli,  like  Luther,  made  nothing 
from  his  publications.  In  which  respect  he  resembled  most  modern 
authors,  only  he  expected  nothing  !  He  once  wrote  to  Vadianus 
(May  28,  1525,  vii.,  398) :  "  There  was  a  man  lately  who  said  that  I 
sold  copies  to  the  printers  at  a  high  price.  That  man  lied  against 
the  Holy  Spirit.  It  must  not  be  permitted  therefore  that  this  can  be 
said  with  truth.  I  ask  nothing  than  that  they  commend  me  to  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ." 


278  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524- 

Lord's  Supper,'  and  on  the  same  day  wrote  to  Philip, 
Marquis  of  Baden,  in  Germany,^  in  whose  territory 
Strauss  lived,  commending  his  book  against  Strauss 
to  the  Marquis's  attention.  On  January  25th,  he 
announces  the  coming  conference  between  Zurich, 
Bern,  Basel,  Schaffhausen,  and  St,  Gall.'  On  Feb- 
ruary 1 2th,  in  speaking  of  his  books  written  and  in 
preparation,  he  says  that  his  Archeteles  was  full  of 
printing  errors;  but  he  had  no  more  copies  to  give 
away  ;  that  he  would  send  the  printer  his  "  Exegesis  " 
for  Luther  in  twelve  days,  "  This  is  friendly  in  tone, 
except  that  I  have  dealt  a  little  sharply  with  the 
Swabian  scribes. "  *  On  February  28th,  he  published 
his"  Friendly  Exegesis,"  and  accompanied  it  with 
an  open  letter  to  Luther,'  which  Luther  pronounced 
"  fierce."  On  March  30th,  he  issued  a  "  Friendly 
defence  and  deprecation  of  the  sermon  of  the  excel- 
lent Martin  Luther  preached  in  Wittenberg  against 
the  Fanatics,  and  to  defend  the  reality  of  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ  in  the  Sacrament."  ^  This  was 
really  an  attack  upon  Luther,  and  two  days  later  he 
follows  it  up  with  another  letter'  full  of  insinuations 
and  exceedingly  riling,  and  stirred  Luther  up  as  no 
other  attack  had  done,  as  Luther's  correspondence 
abundantly  shows.* 

The  fact  was  that  Zwingli  and  Luther  could  by 
no  possibility  be  friends.  Each  was  a  pope  in  his 
way,  only  Luther  ruled  a  nation  and  Zwingli  a  city. 


'  II.,  I,  469-506.  '  III.,  459-462. 

2  VIII.,  2.  «II.,  2,  1-15. 

3 VIII.,  20-22.  'VIII.,  39-41. 

*  VIII.,  28.  8  See  the  extracts  given  (viii.,  41). 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  279 

Each  was  absolutely  sure  of  himself  and  that  he  had 
found  out  the  truth.  Each  had  no  belief  in  the 
honesty  or  capacity  of  those  who  differed  from  him. 
Zwingli  was  jealous  of  Luther  because  he  was  so 
much  more  famous,  and  in  his  letters  to  him  at- 
tempts to  patronise  him.  Luther  considered  Zwingli 
a  heretic.  He  compared  him  with  Arius!  Mani- 
festly the  best  thing  for  both  parties  was  to  attempt 
no  contact.  Instead  of  doing  so  they  carried  on 
directly  and  indirectly  a  protracted  and  abusive  con- 
troversy, disgraceful  to  both  of  them.  What  they 
both  needed  was  good  breeding.  Their  unhappy  con- 
troversy was  discreditable  to  both  of  them.'  Its  practi- 
cal effect  was  to  divide  and  so  weaken  Protestantism. 
On  April  30th,  he  alludes  to  the  many  persons 
who  had  made  Zurich  a  place  of  refuge."  On  May 
22d,  he  affirms  the  validity  of  Roman  Catholic 
baptism : 

"  For  even  though  there  be  things  diabolic  in  papal  bap- 
tism yet  they  cannot  nullify  the  Lord's  words,  '  I  baptise 
thee  in  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost ' ;  so  that  it  should  not  be  true  baptism;  un- 
less we  are  prepared  to  say,  that  the  devil  or  the  Roman 
Pontiff  is  stronger  than  the  Lord."  ' 


'  Zwingli's  final  conclusions  on  the  matter  appear  in  his  Confession 
of  Faith  in  the  Appendix  to  this  volume.  Beginning  on  August  29, 
1523,  when  he  issued  his  Epichiresis  (iii.;  83-116)  upon  the  canon  of 
the  mass  down  to  August  31,  1527,  when  he  replied  to  Luther's 
"  Confession"  (ii.,  2,  94-223),  he  published  sixteen  pieces,  mostly  of 
some  length,  upon  the  Lord's  Supper.  His  correspondence  for  the 
latter  years  of  his  life  is  also  full  of  allusions  to  the  matter. 

n'llL,  57.  3  VIII.,  71. 


2 So  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524- 

On  October  nth,  he  mentions  that  thirteen  hun- 
dred florins  used  to  be  taken  in  yearly  in  the  Great 
Minster  for  sacerdotal  offices  and  celebration  of  the 
mass  for  the  dead.' 

In  the  latter  part  of  1527  Zwingli's  thoughts  took 
a  new  turn.  The  Reformation  had  made  great 
headway  in  Bern,  and  the  Bernese  City  Council,  in 
imitation  of  that  of  Zurich,  resolved  on  Sunday, 
November  17th,  to  hold  a  disputation  in  which  the 
Word  of  God  alone  could  be  appealed  to  as  sole 
authority  for  teachings  respecting  religion.  The 
bishops  of  Constance,  Basel,  Lausanne,  and  Wallis 
and  delegates  from  all  the  cantons  were  invited. 
The  Zurich  Council  agreed  to  accept  the  invitation, 
December  7th.*  Zwingli  asked  formal  permission 
for  himself  and  other  scholars  to  go,^  and  the  Coun- 
cil's formal  affirmative  answer  was  passed  December 
nth.  On  December  15th,  Zwingli  was  able  to 
announce  to  CEcolampadius  that  all  the  prelimin- 
aries were  then  arranged.*  On  December  27,  1527, 
he  sent  a  dignified  letter  to  the  Ulm  City  Council 
proposing  to  meet  John  Eck,  who  had  slandered 
his  dear  friend,  their  pastor,  Conrad  Som,  also 
CEcolampadius,  and  himself,  in  Ulm,  Memmingen, 
Constance,  or  Lindau.^ 

By  invitation  of  the  Zurich  Council  delegates  from 
Schaffhausen,  St.  Gall,  and  Constance  to  the  Bern 
disputation  assembled  in  Zurich  on  January  ist, 
and  so  when  the  start  was  made  the  next  day,  which 
was  Tuesday,  there  was  quite  an  imposing  array  of 

'VIII.,  102.  m.,  3,  16-17;  c/.  Egli,  J.  S.,  1330. 

3  VIII.,  119.  4  VIII.,  125.  =>  VIII.,  131. 


BERN  CATHEDRAL. 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  281 

ecclesiastics  and  other  citizens,  nearly  one  hundred 
in  all ;  yet  lest  evil  befall  them  it  was  accompanied 
by  three  hundred  armed  men  to  the  borders  of  Bern. 
After  that  there  was  no  danger.  They  entered 
Bern  on  January  4th.  Zwingli  and  the  burgomaster 
of  Zurich,  Diethelm  Roeust,  put  up  at  the  hospice, 
which  was  directly  opposite  to  the  gate  of  the  city. 
Zwingli's  brother-in-law,  Leonhard  Tremp,  was  mas- 
ter of  the  hospice  and  a  City  Councillor.'  Zwingli 
was  easily  the  most  distinguished  man  in  the  dis- 
putation, but  the  Roman  Catholic  theologians  were 
conspicuous  by  their  absence.  They  had  of  course 
no  more  desire  than  Zwingli  had  to  talk  to  deaf  ears 
or  to  expose  themselves  to  insult  and  possible  physi- 
cal violence.  It  was  the  fashion  of  the  day  to  ridi- 
cule intellectual  opponents  and  attribute  everything 
bad  to  them,  nor  has  the  fashion  passed  away. 

The  "  Acts  of  the  Disputation  "  were  published 
by  Christopher  Froschauer  —  the  Zurich  printer  who 
published  Zwingli's  writings  —  on  April  23,  1528.' 
It  opens  with  the  Bernese  magistrates'  call  to  the 
disputation,  covering  six  pages  and  dated  "  Sun- 
day, the  17th  day  of  the  Winter  month  "  (which  in 
the  Swiss  calendar  is  November),  1527.  The  date 
set  for  the  beginning  of  the  disputation  was  the 
first  Sunday  of  the  new  year,  which  came  on  Janu- 
ary 5th.  Then  come  the  ten  theses  for  debate  pre- 
pared, with  Zwingli's  assistance,  by  the  local  Re- 
formers Kolb  and  Haller,  viz.^: 

»VIII.,  123. 

^  It  is  an  i8mo,  34  signatures  of  16  pages  each,  or  544  in  all.  It  is 
reprinted  ii.,  I,  63-200,  Cf.  Zwingli's  letter  of  March  7th.,  quoted 
on  page  306.  *'II.,  I,  7C1,  77. 


282  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524- 

"  I.  The  Holy  Christian  Church,  whose  sole  Head  is 
Christ,  is  born  of  the  Word  of  God,  is  animated  by  it, 
and  hears  not  the  voice  of  a  stranger,  II.  The  Church 
of  Christ  makes  no  addition  to  the  law  and  ordinance  of 
the  Word  of  God.  Consequently  all  human  deliverances, 
as  the  Church  ordinances  are  called,  are  not  binding 
upon  us  except  so  far  as  they  are  grounded  on  and  or- 
dained by  the  Word  of  God.  III.  Christ  is  our  sole 
wisdom,  righteousness,  Saviour,  and  Redeemer  for  all 
the  sin  of  the  world.  Consequently  to  confess  another 
service  of  the  saints  and  satisfaction  for  sin  is  to  deny 
Christ.  IV.  That  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  are 
substantially  and  corporally  received  in  the  bread  of 
the  Eucharist  cannot  be  proved  from  the  Bible.  V.  The 
mass  now  in  use  wherein  Christ  is  offered  to  God,  the 
Father,  for  the  sins  of  the  living  and  dead  is  contrary  to 
Scripture;  to  make  a  sacrifice  to  the  Almighty  out  of  the 
sufferings  of  the  immortal  Christ  is  a  blasphemy  and  on 
account  of  the  misuse  of  it  an  abomination  in  the  sight 
of  God.  VI.  As  Christ  died  for  us  only,  so  He  should 
be  appealed  to  as  the  only  mediator  and  intercessor  be- 
tween God  the  Father  and  us  believers,  consequently 
all  other  mediators  and  intercessors  besides  now  appealed 
to  are  to  be  repudiated  by  us  on  the  ground  of  Scripture. 
VII.  That  after  this  time  no  purgatory  will  be  found 
taught  in  the  Scriptures.  Consequently  all  services  for 
the  dead  as  vigils,  requiems,  soul-graces,  sevens,  spiritual 
consolations,  anniversaries,  ampullae,  candles,  and  such 
like  are  vain.  VIII.  Making  pictures  for  worship  is 
contrary  to  the  Word  of  God  in  the  New  and  Old  Testa- 
ments. Consequently  wherever  they  are  so  placed  as  to 
be  in  danger  of  worship  they  should  be  removed.  IX. 
Holy  marriage  is  in  the  Scripture  forbidden  to  no  class, 
but  harlotry  and  unchastity  all  classes  are  commanded 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  283 

to  avoid.  X.  Since  an  openly  immoral  woman  is  under 
a  heavy  ban  according  to  the  Scripture,  it  follows  that 
harlotry  and  unchastity  on  account  of  the  scandal  of  it 
are  in  no  class  more  shameful  than  in  the  priesthood." 

Next  comes  the  brief  preface  stating  that  the 
Acts  had  been  copied  carefully  from  the  four  orig- 
inal books  of  the  notaries;  the  arrangements  for  the 
Disputation  and  the  Acts  themselves.  The  first 
formal  session  was  on  Monday  afternoon,  January 
6th,  in  the  church  of  the  Barefoot  monks,  /.  e.,  the 
Franciscans,  before  a  large  audience.  The  presi- 
dents were  Joachim  von  Watt  (Vadianus),  of  St. 
Gall,  Nicholas  Briefer,  provost  of  St.  Peter's  at 
Basel,  and  Conrad  Schmid,  comtur  of  Kuessnacht, 
in  the  canton  of  Zurich ;  and  the  first  session  was 
consumed  in  getting  ready  for  the  disputation  which 
began  Tuesday  morning,  and  was  opened  by  an  ad- 
dress by  Vadianus.  Francis  Kolb  then  read  the 
first  thesis  and  proceeded  to  defend  it,  and  so  the 
disputation  commenced.  The  daily  sessions  began 
at  7  A.M.  and  i  P.M.  The  Old  Church  was  not 
represented  by  anyone  of  much  prominence,  and 
there  was  scarcely  any  more  general  debate  than  in 
the  Zurich  disputations.  Zwingli  spoke  first  on 
Wednesday,  and  at  first  took  only  a  modest  part. 
The  disputation  was  closed  on  Sunday,  January 
26th,  and  of  course  the  City  Council  declared  the 
Reformed  the  winners,  and  having  already  gone 
a  long  way  in  that  direction  before  the  disputa- 
tion began,  completed  the  introduction  of  the 
Reformation  into  the  city  of   Bern    by  abolishing 


284  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524- 

the  mass  and  Church  images  on   Monday,  January 
27th.' 

Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Bern,  Zwingli  heard 
that  his  wife  had,  on  January  6th,  borne  him  a  son, 
whom  he  afterwards  called  Huldreich.  So  he  sent 
her  this  letter,"  written  doubtless  in  German,  unfor- 
tunately the  only  one  of  his  to  his  wife  which  has 
been  preserved ;  in  which  he  gives  several  commis- 
sions and  says  enough  to  rouse  his  wife's  jealousy : 

"  Grace  and  peace  from  God.  My  dear  wife,  I  thank 
God  that  He  has  granted  you  so  joyful  a  delivery.  He 
will  grant  us  to  bring  the  child  up  according  to  His  will. 
Send  to  my  cousin  one  or  two  coifs  of  the  same  quality 
and  style  as  those  you  wear  yourself.  She  dresses  as  a 
woman  of  her  station  should,  but  not  like  a  Beguine,'  is 
a  married  woman  of  forty,  in  all  style  and  quality*  such 
a  one  as  Master  Jorgen's  wife  has  described.  She  has 
been  beyond  measure  kind  to  me  and  to  us  all. 

"  May  God  take  care  of  you!  Remember  me  to  god- 
mother wife  of  the  administrator;  to  Ulmann  Trinckler 
and  the  wife  of  magistrate  Effinger^;  and  to  all  whom 
you  love.     Pray  God  for  me  and  us  all.     Given  at  Bern, 

'VIII.,  138. 

'VIII.,  134.  But  more  correctly  deciphered  in  TIicol.  Zeitschrift 
aus  der  Sckweiz,  i.,  igi. 

^  Zwingli  made  a  rhyme  here,  "  sy  kumpt  zi»i??iilich  doch  nit  begyn- 
Hch."  The  Beguines  were  a  secular  order  of  pious  women  whose 
vows  resembled  a  nun's,  but  were  not  irrevocable. 

■*  Zwingli  used  the  same  words  to  describe  his  cousin  and  the  coif, 
only  he  reverses  their  order. 

'  The  first  named  was  the  sponsor  of  Zwingli's  eldest  son  Wilhelm  ; 
Anna  Keller,  wife  of  the  administrator  of  the  Oetenbach  nunnery  ; 
the  last  two  the  sponsors  of  Huldreich,  the  child  just  born,  Ulmann 
Trinckler  and  Elizabeth  Effinger. 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  285 

eleventh  day  of  January.  Remember  me  to  all  your 
children;  especially  Margaretha,'  whom  comfort  in  my 
name. 

"  HULDREICH   ZWINGLI, 

"  Your  husband. 
"  Send  me  as  soon  as  possible  my  housecoat." 

Zwingli  preached  a  couple  of  times  in  Bern,  on 
January  -iQth  and  30th. ^ 

In  connection  with  the  first  sermon  Bullinger  tells 
this  story : 

"  When  Zwingli  was  about  to  preach  a  priest  was  at 
an  altar  and  put  on  his  vestments  to  say  a  mass.  But 
when  Zwingli  began  to  preach  he  stood  still  with  the 
mass  articles  before  him  until  the  sermon  was  over. 
But  Zwingli  said  in  this  sermon  many  powerful  things 
against  the  mass;  which  so  stirred  the  priest  all  attired 
as  he  was,  that  at  the  end  of  the  sermon  he  drew  off  his 
pointed  dress  indignantly,  threw  it  upon  the  altar,  and 
said  so  that  all  bystanders  easily  heard  it:  'If  the  mass 
takes  that  shape,  then  I  '11  not  to-day  or  at  any  time  in 
the  future  hold  mass.'  "  ^ 

Zwingli  and  his  friends  started  for  home  on  Janu- 
ary 31st,.  and  arriv^ed  there  safely  the  next  day,  again 
under  military  escort.  On  March  7th,  he  wrote 
thus  of  the  disputation": 

'  Margaretha  was  his  wife's  eldest  daughter,  born  in  1505.  See 
p.  232. 

**  II.,  I,  203-229;  translated  into  modern  German;  the  first  by 
Sigwart,  Die  vier  Keforniatorcn,  pp.  381-406  ;  the  second  by  Kessel- 
mann,  Buck  der  Predigten,  pp.  6S9-692. 

^  Bullinger,  i.,  436. 

<VIII.,  146. 


286  Huldreich  Z\vin*>li  [1524- 

o 

"  Althamer  is  spreading  around  his  tremendous  false- 
hoods—  that  free  speech  was  not  permitted  and  that  he 
debated  against  his  will  because  of  the  challenge  of 
Francis  Kolb.  Yet  we  all  know  that  to  them  and  espe- 
cially to  him  was  accorded  the  greatest  freedom,  and  that 
he  cheerfully  and  willingly  suffered  himself  to  be  selected 
by  his  party  to  perform  the  duty  of  the  speaker  on  the  plat- 
form. But  what  remains  to  the  vanquished  except  grief  ? 
The  proceedings  of  the  disputation  are  being -diligently 
and  carefully  printed:  thirty-four  pages  are  at  this  time 
completed  and  perhaps  twenty  or  more  are  to  come.'  The 
secretary  from  Thun,  Eberhard  von  Rumlary,  who  was 
one  of  the  scribes,  is  superintending,  etc." 

On  April  8th,  he  published  his  plan  for  the  first 
synod,  which  was  held  at  Zurich  on  Tuesday,  April 
2ist,  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  uniformity  of  doc- 
trine and  correctness  in  living  on  the  Zurich  city 
and  cantonal  clergy."  Zwingli  acted  as  censor,  but 
the  call  was  in  the  name  of  the  City  Council,  and 
the  examination  was  held  before  a  delegation  from 
it.  A  similar  gathering  under  the  same  auspices 
and  for  the  same  purposes  was  held  of  the  canons 
and  remaining  orders  of  clergy  on  May  19th.' 

On  May  4th,  he  alludes  to  the  operation  of  what 
he  calls  the  "  Munerarian  law  "  (/.  e.,  law  of  gift): 

"  As  far  as  the  appearance  goes,  who  does  not  say  that 
the  enactment  some  time  ago  of  the  Munerarian  law  at 

'  What  this  means  I  do  not  know.     The  book  has  544  pages  in 
34  signatures  ;  perhaps  he  reckons  another  way. 
^  See  ii.,  3,  19-21  ;  also  Egli,  A.  S.,  1391. 
»Egli,  A.  S.,  1414. 


PRIEST  CONVERTED  AT  THE  PREACHING  OF  ZWINGLI  IN   BERN, 
JAN.   19,   1528. 


UPhi 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  287 

Zurich  (for  I  see  that  those  Lutherans  and  Catabaptists 
are  not  without  a  purpose  slandering  Zurich)  and  now  at 
Bern,  is  a  good  thing  ?  Silver,  gold,  gems  both  silken 
and  sumptuous  clothing,  are  either  laid  aside  or  sold 
and  distributed  to  the  poor;  evil  speaking,  perjury, 
carousing,  and  gambling  are  done  away  with;  adultery, 
fornication,  and  brothels  are  forbidden;  the  wantonness 
of  dancing  both  in  the  day  and  at  night  is  controlled, 
nay  that  at  night  is  interdicted;  the  pope,  who  was 
guarding  the  bridge  and  the  way  to  the  lower  world,  and 
his  followers,  the  impious  doctors,  are  put  under  re- 
straint; the  mass  is  done  away  with  and  the  images  that 
stand  forth  to  draw  worship  are  removed;  seductive  cere- 
monial is  abolished;  and  what  is  finest  and  best  of  all, 
the  truth  is  preached,  with  boldness  yet  holiness,  with 
brilliancy  yet  reverence,  faithfully  but  not  wantonly. 
And  all  this,  not  so  much  at  the  command  of  the  apostles 
and  the  elders  as  at  the  demand  of  the  people."  ' 

On  August  24th,  he  issued  in  Zurich  a  reprint  of 
Hans  Caspar  Schwenckfeld's  treatise  on  the  Lord's 
Supper,  with  a  preface,''  in  which  he  called  attention 
to  the  similarity  between  his  doctrine  and  Schwenck- 
feld's. This  action  of  Zwingli's  involved  Schwenck- 
feld  in  persecution  through  Fabri's  incitation,  and 
he  was  compelled  to  leave  his  home  in  Silesia  and 
betake  himself  to  Strassburg. 

On  August  30th,  Zwingli  published  his  reply  ^  to 
Luther's  Confession,  relative  to  the  Lord's  Supper. 
He  said  on  July  17th  : 

"  I  shall  begin  to  read  Luther's  book  to-morrow;  but 
you  need  not  be  distrustful  of  the  shortness  of  the  time. 

«VIII.,  181.  nif.,  3,  22,  23.  'II.,  2,  94-223. 


288  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524- 

It  [Zwingli's  reply]  shall  be  exposed  for  sale  at  the 
Frankfort  Fair.  Meanwhile  the  other  brethren  have 
read  it,  and  have  talked  over  with  me  as  I  took  my  walk 
the  arguments  which  are  most  senseless,  and  also  those 
which  appear  to  the  author  most  strong;  so  that  I  shall 
not  favour  a  reply  to  many  of  the  points,  but  ever 
oppose  it."  * 

On  July  2 1st,  he  wrote: 

"  I  am  now  engaged  on  the  refutation  of  Luther's 
book,  which  refutation  you  will  see  about  September  ist. 
I  am  indeed  wholly  averse  to  this  kind  of  fighting;  but 
what  do  they  think  is  to  be  done  by  him  who  is  attacked 
with  edge  and  point  ?  Do  not  all  believe  that  in  repell- 
ing an  enemy  he  is  to  be  kept  away,  and  if  this  is  to  be 
accomplished  in  no  other  way,  he  is  to  be  cut  down  ? 
And  must  we  not  oppose  engines  to  those  battering-rams 
which  cause  not  theology  but  faith  and  truth  to  be  over- 
thrown, friendship  to  perish,  and  whatever  is  sacred  and 
in  moderation  to  be  held  in  contempt  among  mortals  ? 
That  book  of  Luther's,  what  else  is  it  than  an  example 
of  denying  what  you  said  a  little  while  ago  ?  or  a  fog 
through  which  you  cannot  see  rightly  the  mystery  of 
Christ  ?  .  .  .  I  shall  put  forth  nothing  wild  against 
Luther — a  thing  he  himself  ought  not  to  have  done. 
Since  he  has  done  it  I  shall  remember  piety  and  Christian 
decorum,"  ' 

Writing  on  August  30th  he  said  further  of  it: 

"  In  his  book  he  [Luther]  slays,  uncautious  man  that 
he  is,  divine  and  human  wisdom  which  it  would  have 

'VIII.,  192.  «VIII.,  203. 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  289 

been  easy  to  revive  among  the  devout.  Since  the 
heretics,  that  is  his  followers,  are  witli  the  impious  them- 
selves so  deaf  to  all  truth  that  they  not  only  refuse  the 
ear  but  even  close  the  approaches.  I  was  for  some  time 
in  doubt,  considering  on  the  one  side  the  vast  labour 
that  was  also  vain  so  far  as  they  were  concerned  who 
especially  ought  to  receive  benefit  from  it,  and  on  the 
other  that  charity  that  '  endureth  all  things  '  and  the 
conscience  of  those  who  while  they  are  frank  are  still  se- 
ducible  by  the  trivial  word  of  these  men  who  under  an 
appearance  of  snowy  whiteness  contrive  deeds  blacker 
than  an  Ethiopian.  But  charity  and  truth  conquered, 
and  I  replied  after  the  manner  you  see.  Luther  has  re- 
called us  to  the  positions  of  [Duns]  Scotus  and  Thomas 
[Aquinas],  not  indeed  that  we  trust  in  them  or  see  that 
he  has  used  with  skill  those  poor  weapons,  but  that  we 
may  deprive  him  of  every  kind  of  offensive  equipment. 
For  now  I  see  that  those  followers  of  Urbanus  [Rhegius] 
who  declare  that  they  have  been  illumined  and  informed 
by  the  anathema  rather  than  the  book  of  this  man  are 
really  tricksters.  I  '11  be  hanged  if  he  [Urbanus  Rhegius, 
who  had  changed  from  the  Zwinglian  to  the  Lutheran 
view  of  the  Eucharist]  does  not  exceed  Fabri  in  folly, 
Eck  in  impurity,  Cochlaus  in  boldness,  and  so  on,  I 
have  therefore  inveighed  against  him  the  more  freely. 
The  judgment  shall  be  yours  and  all  good  men's.  For 
so  shall  we  persevere  unmoved  in  our  position  ;  whatever 
machinations  of  this  sort  may  conjure  up,  we  shall  await 
undauntedly  and  repel  and  render  harmless,  "  ' 

On  December  9th,  he  announced  that  his  com- 
mentary on  Isaiah  was  in  the  press,'' 

'  Staehelin,  Briefe  aus  der  Reformationszeit,  p.  21, 
*  VIII.,  244.     The  preface  to  the  Isaiah  was  signed  July  15,  1529. 
19 


290  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524- 

Here  some  matters  of  a  general  character  must  be 
alluded  to.  The  most  radical  change  which  Zwingli 
made  in  the  Church  service  at  Zurich  was  to  do  away 
with  both  instrumental  and  vocal  music.  This  ac- 
tion was  the  more  strange  since  Zwingli  himself  was 
a  very  accomplished  musician,  being  able  to  play 
upon  different  instruments  and  also  to  sing  well; 
yet  in  the  course  of  the  year  1525  he  suspended  the 
choir-singing  and  on  December  9,  1527,  had  the  or- 
gan of  the  Great  Minster  broken  up '  and  insisted  that 
similar  action  should  be  taken  by  the  other  churches 
in  the  city*  and  canton.  His  motive  was  twofold; 
first,  because  all  this  music  was  inseparably  con- 
nected with  the  Roman  Church  worship  and  he 
desired  to  remove  as  far  as  possible  the  Reformed 
congregations  from  all  association  with  the  past; 
and  second,  because  the  words  of  the  music  were 
in  Latin  and  therefore  unintelligible  to  the  people 
and  he  desired  to  have  every  part  of  the  Reformed 
worship  in  the  vernacular. 

The  public  worship  in  Zurich  after  1525  consisted 
in  prayers,^  public  confession  of  sins,*  recitation 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Apostles'  Creed,  and 
preaching.  The  ministers  wore  their  ordinary  dress 
in  the  pulpit,  but  this  dress,  characterised  by  a  black 
cloak  and  white  ruff,  was  worn  by  others  only  on 

'  Bullinger  gives  the  exact  date,  i.,  418. 

^  The  churches  in  Zurich  reintroduced  music  in  1598. 

*  Zwingli  defended  liberty  in  this  regard:  "  Any  church  will  use 
such  prayers  as  it  pleases,  provided  they  be  framed  according  to  the 
form  of  the  Word  of  God  "  (iii.,  85,  c/.  109,  and  ii.,  2,  233). 

*  The  prayer  and  the  confession  written  by  Zwingli  are  given,  ii., 
2,  228,  229. 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  291 

gala  occasions,  and  when  it  passed  out  of  fashion  it 
became  the  distinctive  ministerial  dress.  When  the 
sacraments  of  the  Lord's  Supper  and  baptism  were 
administered  the  entire  liturgy  was  in  the  vernacular 
and  stripped  of  everything  reminding  of  the  pomp 
and  splendour  of  the  Old  Church.  Even  the  burials 
were  without  any  pomp.  The  body  was  carried  out 
of  the  house  to  the  burying-ground,  the  only  words 
spoken  were  when  the  mourners  were  publicly 
thanked  by  the  master  of  the  guild  to  which  the 
head  of  the  house  belonged  for  their  expression  of 
sympathy,  and  then  the  company  went  into  the 
church  for  silent  prayer,  not  for  the  dead,  but  for 
the  bereaved.  On  the  following  Sunday  the  name 
of  the  deceased  was  announced  to  the  congregation, 
accompanied  by  a  reminder  of  their  own  mortality.* 
The  Church  services  were  held  on  Sundays  from 
seven  to  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  between 
three  and  four  in  the  afternoon.  In  the  Great 
Minster  there  was  a  service  for  children  and  servants 
from  eleven  to  twelve  o'clock.  During  the  week 
there  was  also  a  preaching  service  in  the  morning  at 
five  and  at  eight,  which  took  the  place  of  the  early 
masses.^  On  Friday,  which  was  the  market  day, 
Zwingli  preached  especially  for  the  country  people. 
At  the  end  of  1525  certain  ministers  were  set  apart 
for  visitation  of  the  sick,  inasmuch  as  this  was  no 
part  of  the  duties  of  the  people's  priest.'     Of  the 

'  The  form  used  in  Zurich  is  given,  ii.,  2,  227,  228. 
'  The  attendance  falling  off,  the  magistrates  passed  an  order  requir- 
ing church-going!  (Egli,  A.  S.,  1780). 
3Egli,  ^.  S.,  866. 


292  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524- 

holy  days  were  retained  Christmas,  Good  Friday, 
and  Easter;  also  St.  Stephen's,  All  Saints',  Candle- 
mas, St.  John  the  Baptist's,  Mary  Magdalene's,  and 
more  strangely  the  Annunciation  and  Ascension  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  together  with  the  day  of  the  city 
patron  saints,  Felix  and  Regula.  On  these  days,  as 
on  Sunday,  public  business  and  all  work  were  for- 
bidden, except  necessary  work,  as  harvesting.  At 
the  end  of  the  year  1526  Zwingli  authorised  the  issue 
of  a  calendar  for  the  year  1527,  in  which  the  names 
of  the  church  saints  were  supplanted  by  biblical 
saints,  each  with  a  Scripture  reference.'  The  assign- 
ment to  dates  was  purely  arbitrary.  The  author  of 
this  book  was  an  alleged  Dr.  Johannes  Copp,  but 
as  this  man  is  otherwise  utterly  unknown,  the  con- 
jecture lies  near  that  the  real  author  was  Zwingli  him- 
self. All  the  gold  and  silver  ornaments  and  other 
costly  treasures  of  the  churches,  including  the  vest- 
ments and  the  splendidly  bound  service-books,  were 
not  only  removed  from  the  churches  but  melted  down, 
sold,  or  destroyed,"  and  even  the  grave  stones,  unless 
the  relatives  of  the  deceased  took  them  away,  were  by 
order  of  the  City  Council  used  for  building  purposes.^ 
Although  Zwingli  was  doubtless  the  author  of  all 
these  changes  in  Church  ordinances,  yet  the  nominal 
authors  were  the  city  authorities  and  all  these 
changes  were  made  in  their  name.     They  were  not 


'  Reprinted  by  Dr.  Ernst  Goetzinger,  Zwei  Kalender  von  yahre 
1^2'/,  Schaffhausen,  1865. 

*  Bullinger,  i.,  383,  sq.  ;  Ceroid  Edlibach,  Chronik  (ed.  Usteri, 
Zurich,  1847),  275  ;  Zwingli,  ii.,  2,  443  j-i/j^. 

'Egli,  A.  S.,  865. 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  293 

carried  out  without  more  or  less  opposition,  espe- 
cially in  the  country  districts,  where  the  people 
were  more  inclined  to  stand  by  the  old  order.  On 
April  4,  1526,  the  Council  of  the  city  of  Zurich 
passed  an  order  relative  to  the  support  to  be  hence- 
forth given  to  the  clergy  by  setting  apart  certain 
sources  of  revenue  to  this  end.  This  meant  in  some 
cases  a  considerable  curtailment  of  income,  especially 
on  the  part  of  the  canons  of  the  different  cathedrals. 
Those  priests  who  remained  faithful  to  the  old  order 
were  not,  however,  deprived  of  their  stipends,  but 
as  they  died  or  retired  their  places  were  filled,  if  at 
all,  with  those  of  the  Reformed  Church. 

Zwingli  showed  his  ambition  for  an  educated 
clergy  by  establishing  a  theological  seminary  as 
soon  as  funds  were  available,  which  was  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1525.  A  call  was  given  to  a  teacher  of  Greek 
and  Hebrew,  and  Zwingli  himself  took  part  in  the 
work.  The  text-book  was  the  Bible.  Instruction 
began  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning.  One  teacher 
read  the  Hebrew  text  and  translated  it  into  Latin 
with  a  brief  interpretation.  Then  Zwingli  trans- 
lated the  same  text  from  the  Greek  of  the  Septuagint 
into  Latin.  Leo  Jud  then  commented  in  German 
upon  what  had  been  read,  and  explained  in  Latin. 
This  theological  seminary  was  attended  not  only  by 
regular  students  but  by  the  clergy  of  the  city,  and 
Leo  Jud's  lectures  by  the  people  generally.  In- 
struction from  the  Greek  New  Testament  was  given 
in  the  afternoon  at  three  o'clock  by  Myconius. 
That  Zwingli  set  up  for  himself  a  high  standard  is 
shown  by  his  writings,  and  he  was  able  to  impress 


294  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524- 

this  standard  upon  others.  He  called  his  institute 
"  The  Prophecy."  ' 

On  the  1 2th  of  December  Zwingli  presided  over  a 
synod  at  Frauenfeld,"  in  the  canton  of  Thurgau,  some 
twenty-two  miles  north-east  of  Zurich,  at  which  were 
assembled  not  only  the  preachers  of  Thurgau  but  of 
St.  Gall,  Appenzell,  and  the  Rhine  valley,  along  with 
representatives  of  the  congregations.  In  all  there 
were  some  five  hundred  clergymen.  The  principal 
business  of  the  synod  apparently  was  to  bring  the 
clergy  into  line.  Consequently  those  ministers  who 
had  been  inclined  to  accept  Anabaptism  were  either 
compelled  to  confess  conversion  to  the  orthodox 
view  or  else  they  were  deposed  on  the  ground  of 
ignorance  or  deprived  of  their  stipends.  Other  im- 
portant business  of  the  synod  related  to  the  refor- 
mation of  the  monasteries  and  the  secularisation  of 
their  property.  Zwingli  on  his  way  back  went 
through  Constance,  preached  there  on  the  19th  of 
December,  as  he  did  later  on  at  Stein  and  Diessen- 
hofen,  two  towns  on  the  Rhine  fifteen  and  twenty 
miles  respectively  west  of  Constance.  On  the  17th  of 
May,  1530,  another  synod  was  held  at  Frauenfeld 
in  which  Zwingli  again  took  a  personal  part  and 
through  his  friends  in  Constance  he  exerted  an  in- 
fluence eastward  upon  the  territory  bordering  on 
Thurgau,  so  that  this  whole  section  of  the  country 
heard  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  in  the  different  sections 
of  Switzerland  into  which  the  Reformation  entered 


'  Johannes  Kessler,   Sahhata  (ed.  Goetzinger,  St.  Gall,   1870),  i., 
372  ;  Bullinger,  i.,  2qos</.;  Zwingli,  iv.,  205  ;  Egli,  A.  S.,  866. 
*  VIII.,  401  ;  Kessler,  Sabbata,  ii.,  233  sqq. 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  295 

the  means  adopted  to  secure  its  triumph  were  by 
no  means  always  merely  appeals  to  reason  and  con- 
science, Zwingli  had  the  idea  that  whenever  the  ma- 
jority wished  to  accept  the  new  teachings  they  were 
justified  in  compelling  the  minority  to  accept  them 
or  to  leave.  This  was  the  course  he  pursued  in  regard 
to  the  Baptists  and  this  was  also  the  course  in  regard 
to  the  monasteries  and  nunneries  and  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  revised  form  of  the  Lord's  Supper  and 
in  other  ways.  So  the  soul  liberty  which  he  claimed 
for  himself  and  for  his  followers  he  was  not  willing 
to  grant  to  others.  Wherever  he  or  his  followers 
met  with  opposition  there  they  used  force.  Par- 
ticularly was  this  the  case  in  regard  to  the  cloisters. 
The  case  of  the  nuns  of  St.  Katherinenthal  is  one  in 
point.  Their  building  was  on  the  Rhine,  five  miles 
east  of  Schaffhausen.  It  is  now  a  hospital  for  in- 
curables. These  nuns  had  opposed  the  Reforma- 
tion, but  were  supposed  to  have  been  convinced  by 
the  arguments  of  Zwingli.  They  were  brought  under 
the  preaching  of  those  sent  by  the  Swiss  authorities, 
and  because  they  still  refused  to  accept  the  Refor- 
mation they  were  driven  out  of  their  cloister  with 
violence,  the  pictures  and  statues  of  which  were 
destroyed  by  a  mob  from  the  neighbouring  town  of 
Diessenhofen,  a  mile  back  on  the  Rhine,  their  re- 
ligious dress  was  torn  from  their  backs  and  burnt 
before  their  eyes,  and  they  were  themselves  roughly 
handled.*     The  monks  in  the  Cistercian  abbey  of 


'  See  the  pitiful  story  told  by  the  sufferers,  with  annotations, 
Archiv  fur  die  schweizerische  Reformationsgeschichte  (Freiburg  in 
5r.,  1875),  iii.,  101-115. 


296  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1524 

Wettingen  on  the  Limmat,  thirteen  miles  north- 
west of  Zurich,  were  also  visited  by  a  mob  and  the 
pictures  and  the  statuary  of  their  chapel  likewise 
destroyed.  They  were  compelled  to  remove  them 
with  their  own  hands  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
abbot  of  Cappel  and  of  a  delegation  from  Zurich  and 
Bern  to  cut  off  one  another's  hair  and  pull  off  their 
hoods.  Their  building,  surrounded  b)''  extensive 
gardens,  was  afterwards  turned  into  a  school- 
house.  It  is  now  a  seminary  for  teachers.  Justifica- 
tion of  this  rough  treatment  of  these  monks  and 
nuns,  or  rather  the  explanation  offered,  was  the  fact 
that  the  opposition  to  the  Reformation  came  chiefly 
from  them,  and  also  it  is  probable  that  the  people 
in  this  way  revenged  themselves  for  long  years  of 
oppression  and  neglect.  But  this  was  playing  with 
edged  tools,  and  naturally  intensified  the  opposition 
to  the  Reformation  on  the  part  of  the  Five  Forest 
Cantons. 

Zwingli  in  1 529  stood  at  the  height  of  his  influence. 
His  followers,  who  up  to  1526  had  been  limited  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  canton  of  Zurich,  were  now 
found  in  all  parts  of  German  Switzerland  even  to 
some  extent  in  the  Five  Forest  Cantons,  and  also  in 
Strassburg,  Hessia,  and  the  Swabian  cities  —  in 
short,  through  a  considerable  part  of  Northern 
Switzerland  and  Southern  Germany.  In  all  these 
parts  he  was  looked  upon  as  the  religious  leader 
and  was  praised  and  trusted  as  no  other  man  of  his 
day  in  this  section  of  Europe.  The  burden  and  re- 
sponsibility for  the  management  of  all  the  churches 
which    had    accepted    his    theology    naturally    fell 


1529]  The  Final  Stage  297 

upon  him.  The  congregations  thus  established  were 
subjected  to  the  control  of  the  local  authorities. 
They  held  their  own  independent  church  courts,  but 
in  the  common  opposition  to  the  Anabaptists  (or 
rather  Baptists),  to  the  Catholic  Church,  and  to  the 
Lutherans  they  found  a  bond  of  union,  and  so  they 
gradually  assumed  a  uniformity  of  doctrinal  expres- 
sion and  of  internal  Church  management.  Just  as 
in  the  early  time  it  was  the  presence  of  heresy 
which  brought  the  orthodox  Christian  churches  to- 
gether and  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  so  it  was  the  presence  of  Anabaptism,  the 
mass,  and  Lutheranism  which  caused  the  rise  of  the 
Reformed  Church  in  German  Switzerland  and  South- 
ern Germany.  The  intercourse  between  various 
places  by  means  of  delegations,  which  was  a  feature 
of  their  national  life,  was  used  to  promote  religious 
as  well  as  political  ends,  for  the  civil  delegations 
were  frequently  accompanied  by  ecclesiastic  delega- 
tions and  the  matters  brought  up  for  discussion  at 
such  meetings  were  quite  as  likely  to  be  religious  as 
political  or  commercial.  For  instance,  how  to  treat 
the  Anabaptists,  how  to  treat  the  Lutherans, 
whether  they  should  apply  property  of  the  cloisters 
to  educational  purposes,  and  whether  they  should 
have  identical  forms  of  creeds  and  litany,  these 
were  matters  earnestly  presented.  Zwingli  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  inclined  to  suppress  the  indi- 
viduality of  the  several  congregations,  for  when  the 
synod  was  held  at  Basel  on  February  15,  1531,  and 
the  question  was  asked  whether  the  allied  congrega- 
tions should  not  have  the  same  litany,  the  answer  was 


298  Huldreich  Zwingli        [1524-1529] 

given  that  although  such  a  uniformity  was  desirable 
it  was  not  necessary  and  should  not  be  made  obli- 
gatory. At  the  same  time  the  synod  held  that  it 
was  very  desirable  to  have  regular  interchange  of 
views  and  opinions  between  the  churches  in  the 
Christian  Burgher  Rights.  Zwingli  laid  particular 
stress  upon  the  organisation  of  the  synod.  That  of 
Zurich  was  naturally  made  the  model.  These 
synods  were  democratic  bodies  and  exerted  power- 
ful influence  upon  the  congregations  which  they 
represented  in  doctrinal  and  ethical  matters.  But 
in  most  of  the  cities  and  cantons  the  Church  affairs 
were  regulated  by  the  magistrates.  Whenever  he 
could  Zwingli  seems  to  have  put  himself  in  evidence 
as  much  as  possible,  even  to  the  extent  of  being 
himself  the  presiding  officer  of  the  synod,  and  when 
any  conflict  arose  between  it  and  the  magistrates 
he  generally  took  the  side  of  the  magistrates. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

THE   FIRST  CAPPEL  WAR   AND   THE  COLLOQUY   OF 

MARBURG 

1529 

THE  year  1529  is  for  ever  memorable  because  in 
it  the  religious  party  in  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land, which  had  revolted  from  the  Old  Church,  first 
received  their  cognomen  of  "  Protestants."  This 
excellent  descriptive  epithet,  which  all  branches  of 
the  Reformed  Church,  save  one,  are  proud  to  bear, 
arose  naturally  from  the  action  of  John,  the  Elector 
of  Saxony;  the  Margrave  of  Brandenburg;  Philip, 
the  Landgrave  of  Hesse ;  Philip,  Ernest,  and  Fran- 
cis, the  Dukes  of  Brunswick  and  Luneburg;  Wolf- 
gang, the  Prince  of  Anhalt ;  and  of  the  imperial 
cities  of  Strassburg,  Nuremberg,  Ulm,  Constance, 
Lindau,  Memmingen,  Kempten,  Nordlingen,  Heil- 
bronn,  Reutlingen,  Issna,  St.  Gall,  Weissenburg, 
and  Windsheim,  in  protesting  at  the  Diet  of  Spires, 
on  April  19,  1529,  against  its  action  in  ordering  the 
reinstatement  of  the  mass  in  those  portions  of  the 
empire  where  it  had  been  overthrown,  and  the  ex- 
tirpation of  the  alleged  Zwinglian  and  Anabaptist 
heresies."  '     It  is  a  sad  fact  that  the  proposed 

'See  summary  in  Gieseler,  Eccles.  Hist.,  Eng.  trans.,  Am.  ed., 
iv.,  130-132,  footnotes.  The  Zwinglians  were  called  by  Lutherans 
and  Roman  Catholics  "  Sacramentarians." 

299 


300  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529 

suppression  of  Zwingli's  theory  as  to  the  meaning 
of  the  Eucharist  was  heard  of  by  the  Lutherans 
with  more  or  less  open  satisfaction.'  But  the  Land- 
grave of  Hesse  found  an  ally  in  Melanchthon  in  mak- 
ing a  protest  against  this  action  on  the  ground  that 
there  had  been  no  discussion  of  the  matter  before 
the  Diet,  and  so  it  was  an  outrage  to  condemn  it 
unheard."  Zwingli  alludes  to  this  magnanimous 
performance  of  the  Landgrave  in  his  letter  in  reply 
to  the  Landgrave's  from  Spires  on  May  13th,  in 
which  he  hails  with  delight  the  proposal  for  a  con- 
ference between  the  Lutherans  and  Zwinglians  and 
declares  he  would  attend  whether  the  Zurich  Council 
gave  him  permission  or  not.^ 

But  before  the  Colloquy  could  be  held  the  troubles 
between  the  Five  Forest  Cantons  (Uri,  Schwyz, 
Unterwalden,  Luzern,  and  Zug),  whose  inhabitants 
were  honest  and  ardent  adherents  of  the  Old  Church, 
and  the  Reformed  cantons  led  to  open  war.  The 
former  had,  in  1528,  leagued  themselves  together  to 
oppose  the  Zwinglians,  and  the  next  year  allied 
themselves  with  Ferdinand  of  Austria. 


'  See  judgment  of  Luther  and  Melanchthon  in  Walch's  edition  of 
Luther's  Works  (xvi.,  364). 

*  See  Melanchthon's  letter  to  Camerarius  on  May  17th  in  Corpus 
Reformatorum,  i.,  1067  sq. 

'^  Philip's  letter  was  in  German  and  dated  by  Schuler  and  Schult- 
hess  (viii.,  288),  "  auf  9.  Mai  Speier  am  Donstag  nach  Jubilate  1529." 
But  Jubilate  is  the  third  Sunday  after  Easter,  which  that  year  came 
on  March  28th,  consequently  the  third  Sunday  would  be  on  April 
iSth  and  Thursday  thereafter  would  be  April  22d,  not  May  gth. 
Besides,  Zwingli's  reply  is  dated  May  7th  (viii.,  663).  One  of 
Zwingli's  correspondents,  John  Haner,  claimed  the  credit  of  suggest- 
ing originally  the  conference. 


1529]  The  First  Cappel  War  301 

Matters  were  thus  brought  to  a  crisis,  for  it  was 
the  avowed  intention  of  the  Five  Cantons  and  their 
allies  to  root  out  the  Zwinglian  teaching  and  teach- 
ers. Zwingli,  therefore,  favoured  armed  opposition 
by  the  cities  of  the  cantons  which  had  accepted  his 
teaching  before  their  enemies  were  too  much  en- 
trenched. To  Bern,  hesitating  about  engaging  in 
the  fraternal  strife,  he  wrote  sometime  in  June, 
1529,  just  before  starting  for  Cappel: 

"  Be  firm  and  do  not  fear  war.  For  that  peace  which 
some  are  so  urgently  pressing  upon  us  is  not  peace  but 
war.  And  the  war  for  which  I  am  so  insistent  is  peace, 
not  war;  for  I  do  not  thirst  for  the  blood  of  anyone,  nor 
will  I  drink  it  even  in  case  of  tumult.  This  is  the  end 
I  have  in  view — the  enervation  of  the  oligarchy.  Unless 
this  takes  place  neither  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  nor  its 
ministers  will  be  safe  among  us.  I  have  in  mind  nothing 
cruel,  but  what  I  do  is  friendly  and  paternal.  I  desire 
to  save  some  who  are  perishing  through  ignorance.  I 
am  labouring  to  preserve  liberty.  Fear  nothing;  for  we 
shall  so  manage  all  things  with  the  goodness  and  the 
alliance  of  God  that  you  shall  not  be  ashamed  nor  dis- 
pleased because  of  us."  ' 

He  also  disclosed  to  friends  on  the  very  morning 
the  start  was  made  his  plan  of  campaign.' 

War  was  indeed  inevitable.  The  condemnation 
of  a  Zwinglian  and  a  Zuricher  to  death  for  his  faith's 
sake  in  Schwyz  ^  only  hastened  matters.     On  June 

>VIII.,  294. 

*  This  is  probably  similar  to  that  preserved  and  printed,  ii.,  3, 

37-39- 

^Bullinger,  ii.,  148. 


302  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529 

8,  1529,  Zurich  declared  war  on  the  Five  Cantons' 
and  joined  by  her  allies,  especially  by  Bern,  marched 
thirty  thousand  strong  to  Cappel,  a  border  town  ten 
miles  directly  south  of  Zurich.  Zwingli  accom- 
panied the  troops,  nominally  as  chaplain,  as  his 
office  obligated  him  to  do.  He  went  on  horseback, 
carrying  "  on  his  shoulder  a  beautiful  halberd."  It 
was  his  plan  to  strike  a  quick  and  crushing  blow 
upon  the  disorganised  Five  Cantons,  and  then  ex- 
tort from  them  the  abrogation  of  the  Austrian  alli- 
ance, the  renunciation  of  foreign  pensions,  and  full 
liberty  to  preach  the  Reformed  doctrines  within  their 
borders.  It  was  to  see  that  these  things  were  in- 
sisted on  that  he  accompanied  the  host.  But  as 
they  were  directly  opposite  to  the  Five  Cantons' 
ideas  and  could  only  be  obtained  by  bloodshed,  he 
was  held  by  them  to  be  their  deadliest  foe ;  and  the 
Zurich  authorities,  knowing  that  he  was  considered 
by  them  as  the  cause  of  the  whole  trouble,  had  en- 
deavoured to  keep  him  in  Zurich  and  even  appointed 
another  to  be  chaplain. 

But  the  first  Cappel  war  was  over  as  soon  as  it 
was  begun.  On  June  loth  the  allies  received  a 
moving  appeal  from  the  chief  magistrate  of  Glarus 
to  await  a  proposition  from  the  Five  Cantons. 
Zwingli  perceived  the  folly  of  treating  with  them 

'  Her  reasons  were  apparently  drawn  up  by  Zwingli  and  were  cir- 
culated in  printed  form.  The  document  is  reprinted  by  BuUinger 
(ii.,  164-167).  Seven  reasons  were  given,  but  they  were  reducible  to 
two,  the  alliance  the  cantons  had  made  with  Austria  for  the  express 
purpose  of  destroying  the  Reformed  Church,  and  the  execution  of 
Jacob  Keyser  (also  called  Schlosser)  by  the  canton  of  Schwyz  for  his 
faith's  sake. 


1529]  The  First  Cappel  War  303 

and  patching  up  a  peace  which  secured  none  of  the 
objects  of  the  threatened  war.  He  said  to  the 
bearer  of  the  appeal:  "  You  will  have  to  give  an 
account  to  God  for  this.  While  the  enemy  is  weak 
and  without  arms,  he  speaks  fair:  you  believe  him 
and  make  peace.  But  when  he  is  fully  armed,  he 
will  not  spare  us,  and  then  no  peace  will  he  make 
with  us."  The  man  replied  :  "  I  trust  in  God  that  all 
will  turn  out  well.     Let  us  act  always  for  the  best."  ' 

On  June  nth,  Zwingli  wrote  from  the  field  to 
the  Small  and  Great  Councils  of  Zurich  a  long  let- 
ter,' in  which  he  gave  his  idea  of  the  necessary 
conditions  for  a  lasting  peace :  I.  The  Forest  Cantons 
must  allow  the  Word  of  God  to  be  freely  preached 
among  them.  II.  Pensions  were  to  be  for  ever  fore- 
sworn. III.  Distribution  of  such  pensions  was  to  be 
punished  corporally  and  by  fine.  IV.  The  Forest 
Cantons  were  to  pay  indemnity  to  Zurich  and  Bern. 

In  the  camp  the  chief  talk  was  apparently  against 
the  pensioners,  who  were  considered  principal  fo- 
menters  of  trouble,  as  they  had  done  so  much  to 
degenerate  their  fellow  countrymen.  Their  sup- 
pression was  also  dear  to  Zwingli,  as  much  so,  per- 
haps, as  religious  liberty.  Peace  could  the  easier 
be  arranged  as  there  was  on  neither  side,  certainly 
not  among  the  common  soldiers,  any  desire  to  fight, 
—  in    fact,    the   outposts   fraternised/  and  besides 

'  Bullinger,  ii.,  170. 

'VIII.,  296  sqq. 

^  Cf.  the  famous  story  of  the  Forest  Cantoners  offering  milk  to  the 
Zurichers'  bread  and  both  eating  them  together  (Bullinger,  ii.,  182, 
183).  Similar  events  occurred  during  the  Civil  War  in  the  United 
States,  and  probably  in  many  other  wars. 


304  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529 

hunger   played    an    urgent    part    in    inducing    the 
Catholics  to  come  to  terms.' 

While  the  negotiations  were  going  on  the  camp 
of  the  Reformed  was  under  strict  discipline  and 
daily  religious  services  were  held,  Zwingli  discov- 
ered that  the  pensioners  were  secretly  working 
against  him  and  naturally  they  had  plenty  of  allies. 
Even  Bern  was  indifferent  in  the  matter.'  He  then 
composed  this  hymn  ': 

I.  II. 

Lord,  guide  the  car  [of  War]  Thyself  !  God,  elevate  Thy  Name 

Otherwise  crooked  To  the  punishment 

All  our  course  becomes.  Of  the  wicked  goats  ! 

That  would  be  joy  Thy  sheep 

To  our  enemies,  Again  awake, 

Who  Thee  Who  Thee 

Despise  so  wickedly.  Love  so  ardently ! 

III. 

Help,  so  that  all  bitterness 

May  be  far  removed, 

And  old  fidelity 

May  come  back 

And  grow  anew ; 

That  we 

Ever  may  sing  Thy  praises ! 

On  June  24,  1530,  the  treaty  was  signed,  and 
Zwingli  on  that  day  expressed  himself  as  satisfied 

'VIII.,  305.     "  Our  enemies  are  suffering  from  hunger.     .     . 
They  are  tired  of  the  war  since  they  have  nothing  to  eat." 

**  See  his  letter  to  Blaurer,  June  21,  1529  (viii.,  308);  cf.  that  to 
Bern,  in  which  he  alludes  to  camp  disputes  on  July  24  (viii.,  325). 

*II.,  2,  275,  276,  and  the  music,  527.  Bullinger  gives  it  (ii.,  182) 
and  states  that  it  was  immediately  and  widely  popular.  It  was  sung 
at    the    Swiss    celebrations   of    the    four   hundredth    anniversary    of 


FACSIMILe  O 


).     I  should  have 

,j^  Luther,  since  I  have 

r,  if  I  had  not  been 

^^ong  ago  delivered  to 

J  somewhat  different. 

A  urge,   not  of  their 

ler  by   command  of 

^r<^<-'*''W'»-»^»-*^that  they  should  be 

•  St ween    Zurich    and 

D  the  matter,  chiefly 

f^  #  ro  without  difficulty. 

U.    .**♦.    ^»f   /^^^  offe-?5-fS' them  to 

to  them  we  are  will- 


LE  OF  A  LETTER  \ 


tt^Lfi  ,       j^^r*-^-^-**-      tK******--!*      [.y^^t^^^i^       ^U\'*Aij*^il^***     y   ^.-v^J     ^r-*^    ^^■C**'!'^     ^' 


f 


.f^ 


'***A    ^x-*-^ 


^-**^     C*-^***-!^* 


t';'^' 


4.^ 


^/^- 


sXA-lc*-*-^* 


^i  -w^.  ti^r  ii»Y^  -.«^<-  ;.«  t^^^trt,^?'  «,"-**» 


•1^^*^ 


,^^  B  *  «  '  "■ 

Of  ^ 


TRANSLATION. 


Grace  and  Peace  from  God.  I  should  have 
already  sent  you  our  replies  to  Luther,  since  I  have 
gotten  hold  of  a  letter  carrier,  if  I  had  not  been 
suspicious  that  they  had  been  long  ago  delivered  to 
you.  My  present  business  is  somewhat  different. 
Private  citizens  of  MUlhausen  urge,  not  of  their 
individual  authority,  but  rather  by  command  of 
those  particularly  concerned,  that  they  should  be 
received  into  the  alliance  between  Zurich  and 
Bern.  But  this  has  been  done  in  the  dark,  that 
is,  cautiously  and  secretly.  We,  the  Town  clerk 
and  I,  have  not  yet  brought  up  the  matter,  chiefly 
fur  the  reason  that  we  are  awaiting  your  petition  ; 
and  we  hope  that  it  will  go  thro  without  difficulty. 
Meanwhile  we  are  making  good  offe'fe'^  them  to 
the  effect,  that  if  it  seems  good  to  them  v-'e  axe  will- 
ing to  refer  it  to  the  next  Diet  of  the  three  cities 
and  with  the  greatest  fidelity  to  do  anything  which 
they  believe  will  be  to  their  advantage.  I  was  un- 
willing that  you  should  remain  ignorant  of  these 
matters.  For  the  Mulhausers  have  learned  that 
you  have  under  consideration  joining  this  alliance 
yourself,  and  they  have  heard  it  not  from  traitors  but 
from  faithful  ones  who  know  that  the  alliances  of 
your  cities,  I  mean  St.  Gall  and  MQlhausen,  are 
almost  identical.  We  will  follow  out  what  you 
consider  for  your  best  interests.     Farewell. 

Zurich,  September  3,  1528. 

The  Glareans  remain  faithful  to  the  Word. 
Yours, 


To  the  honorable,  wise,  etc. 
Mr.  von  Watt,  Burgomaster 
of  St.  Gall. 


1529]  The  First  Cappel  War  305 

and  thankful."  The  treaty  contained  eighteen  Arti- 
cles, of  which  these  were  the  chief:  i.  Neither  side 
was  to  persecute  anyone  for  his  faith's  sake.  The 
majority  in  each  canton  was  to  decide  whether  the 
Old  Faith  was  to  be  retained  or  not.  2.  The  alliance 
with  Austria  was  to  be  dissolved  and  the  papers 
pertaining  to  it  "  pierced  and  slit."  3.  The  six 
cities  of  Zurich,  Bern,  Basel,  St.  Gall,  Miilhausen, 
and  Biel,  all  Reformed,  renounced  definitely  for 
themselves  and  their  dependencies  all  pensions  and 
foreign  subsidies  of  every  description,  but  merely 
recommended  a  similar  course  to  the  Five  Forest 
Cantons.  7.  Schwyz  was  to  support  the  children 
of  Jacob  Keyser  (or  Schlosser),  whom  she  had 
burned  for  his  faith's  sake.  10.  Abusive  speech  on 
both  sides  was  to  cease.  13.  The  Forest  Cantons 
were  to  reimburse  Zurich  and  Bern  for  the  cost  of 
the  war  inside  of  fourteen  days  from  the  date  of  the 
treaty ;  on  penalty  for  failure  to  do  so  the  six  cities 
would  refuse  to  sell  them  food."  Zwingli  thus  ex- 
pressed himself  on  June  29th,  in  writing  to  a  friend 
at  Ulm: 

"  We  have  brought  home  a  peace-treaty  which  is  I 


Zwingli's  birth  in  1884,  and  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Zwingli  statue  in 
Zurich,  Monday,  August  24,  1885.  The  poetical  versions  given  in 
the  English  translations  of  Hottinger  by  T.  C.  Porter  (p.  301),  Chris- 
toffel  by  J.  Cochran  (p.  430),  Merle  d'Aubigne  by  H.  White  (iv., 
p.  488),  the  last  reprinted  by  ScYiaH  {//ist.  Chr.  Church,  vii.,  p.  173), 
with  the  alteration  of  one  line,  are  so  exceedingly  free  as  to  misrepre- 
sent the  original  in  thought  and  metre. 

'  See  viii.,  309. 

'^  The  text  of  the  treaty  is  given  in  Bullinger,  ii.,  185-191.  The 
war  costs  were  reckoned  as  "  2500»Sonnenkronen  "  (ii.,  3,  43). 


1529]  The  First  Cappel  War  305 

and  thankful."  The  treaty  contained  eighteen  Arti- 
cles, of  which  these  were  the  chief:  i.  Neither  side 
was  to  persecute  anyone  for  his  faith's  sake.  The 
majority  in  each  canton  was  to  decide  whether  the 
Old  Faith  was  to  be  retained  or  not.  2.  The  alliance 
with  Austria  was  to  be  dissolved  and  the  papers 
pertaining  to  it  "  pierced  and  slit."  3.  The  six 
cities  of  Zurich,  Bern,  Basel,  St.  Gall,  Miilhausen, 
and  Biel,  all  Reformed,  renounced  definitely  for 
themselves  and  their  dependencies  all  pensions  and 
foreign  subsidies  of  every  description,  but  merely 
recommended  a  similar  course  to  the  Five  Forest 
Cantons.  7.  Schwyz  was  to  support  the  children 
of  Jacob  Keyser  (or  Schlosser),  whom  she  had 
burned  for  his  faith's  sake.  10.  Abusive  speech  on 
both  sides  was  to  cease.  13.  The  Forest  Cantons 
were  to  reimburse  Zurich  and  Bern  for  the  cost  of 
the  war  inside  of  fourteen  days  from  the  date  of  the 
treaty ;  on  penalty  for  failure  to  do  so  the  six  cities 
would  refuse  to  sell  them  food.^  Zwingli  thus  ex- 
pressed himself  on  June  29th,  in  writing  to  a  friend 
at  Ulm: 

"  We  have  brought  home  a  peace-treaty  which  is  I 


Zwingli's  birth  in  1884,  and  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Zwingli  statue  in 
Zurich,  Monday,  August  24,  1885.  The  poetical  versions  given  in 
the  English  translations  of  Hottinger  by  T.  C.  Porter  (p.  301),  Chris- 
toffel  by  J.  Cochran  (p.  430),  Merle  d'Aubigne  by  H.  White  (iv., 
p.  488),  the  last  reprinted  by  Scha.fi  {//isi.  Chr.  Church,  vii.,  p.  173), 
with  the  alteration  of  one  line,  are  so  exceedingly  free  as  to  misrepre- 
sent the  original  in  thought  and  metre. 

'  See  viii.,  309. 

■■*  The  text  of  the  treaty  is  given  in  Bullinger,  ii.,  185-191.  The 
war  costs  were  reckoned  as  "  250o»Sonnenkronen  "  (ii.,  3,  43). 


3o6  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529 

trust  most  honourable  for  us,  although  we  have  not  shed 
a  drop  of  blood.  Our  opponents  on  the  other  hand 
have  brought  home  a  very  wet  pelt  [/.  e.,  a  great  damper 
has  been  put  upon  them].  Because  in  the  first  place  the 
Articles  of  alliance  with  Ferdinand  were  by  the  Ammann 
of  Glarus  about  ii  a.m.  on  June  29th  before  our  own 
eyes,  in  our  camp,  cut  to  pieces  with  a  hanger  and  en- 
tirely destroyed.  That  I  saw  with  my  own  eyes. 
In  our  whole  campaign  there  was  no  dissension  at  all, 
and  no  one  wounded  on  either  side.  Among  the  op- 
ponents was  all  fear  and  dissension,  that  God  had  pro- 
vided, also  hunger."  ' 

The  treaty  u^as  highly  approved  by  the  Reformed 
in  the  six  cities,  but  considered  humiliating  by  the 
Forest  Cantons.  Zwingli  was  particularly  anxious 
to  secure  the  free  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  the 
Forest  Cantons,  and  claimed  that  the  treaty  secured 
it,  but  the  Forest  Cantons  denied  this.  The  dele- 
gation Zurich  sent  to  urge  the  matter  reported  that 
not  the  leaders  only  but  the  people  generally  were 
more  determined  than  ever  to  keep  out  the  evan- 
gelical preachers.  So  nothing  could  be  accom- 
plished, and  it  was  evident  that  in  one  chief  Article 
the  treaty  failed ;  indeed,  that  the  Forest  Cantons 
were  only  biding  their  time  to  make  another  appeal 
to  the  sword. ^ 

Zwingli  took  advantage  of  the  lull  in  Swiss  affairs 
to  resume  the  negotiations  for  a  colloquy  between 


'VIII.,  311,  from  the  German,  which  is  plainly  the  original. 
The  Latin  translation  appears  on  opposite  page. 

*  On  August  10th,  when  he  wrote  to  the  Landgrave,  he  considered 
war  a  possibility  (viii.,  663).         • 


1529]        The  Colloquy  of  Marburg         307 

himself  and  followers  and  Luther  and  his  followers, 
as  urged  by  Philip,  Landgrave  of  Hesse.'  On 
"  Thursday  after  SS.  Peter  and  Paul's  day  "  (/.  c, 
July  1st),  1529,  the  latter  sent  from  Friedewald, 
thirty  miles  southeast  of  Cassel,  a  very  cordial  letter 
to  Zvvingli  informing  him  that  he  had  made  arrange- 
ments already  for  the  conference  and  had  received 
the  promise  of  Luther  and  Melanchthon  to  attend," 
The  place  would  be  Marburg,  in  his  domains,  and 
the  time  set  for  their  arrival  was  St.  Michael's  Day, 
September  29th  (which  that  year  fell  on  Wednes- 
day), and  the  conference  would  begin  the  next  day. 
He  also  advised  that  he  pick  up  CEcolampadius  in 
Basel  on  the  way,  as  he  had  also  been  invited,  and 
that  they  come  to  Marburg  via  Strassburg  and 
through  the  Duchy  of  Zweibriicken,  as  friendly  ter- 
ritories, to  Katzenellenbogen,  twenty  miles  south- 
east of  Coblenz  and  in  Hessia.  Thence  they  would 
have  a  military  escort  to  Marburg.  The  other 
route  open  to  them  was  via  Frankfort  on  the  Rhine, 
but  this  was  more  perilous.  Finally,  he  apologised 
for  putting  the  date  of  the  conference  so  late,  on 
the  ground  that  he  had  heard  a  war  had  broken  out." 


'  The  town  records  of  Zurich  show  that  on  July  19,  1529,  Zwingli 
had  had  a  man  put  in  prison  for  accusing  him  of  stealing  twenty 
gulden  and  a  pair  of  spurs.  On  July  22d  he  accepted  his  apology 
that  the  words  were  spoken  while  the  offender  was  drunk,  and  the 
man  was  released  on  a  fine  of  two  marks  silver  and  costs  (Strick- 
ler,  Actcnsatntnlung,  ii.,  pp.  264,  265). 

'  Carlstadt  was  not  invited,  as  he  complained  to  CEcolampadius, 
viii.,  394. 

*V1II.,  312.  The  war  Philip  alludes  to  is  known  as  the  first 
Cappel  war  already  described. 


3o8  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529 

On  July  1 2th,  QEcolampadius,  ignorant  that  he 
had  already  consented,  asked  Zwingli  to  join  him 
in  the  Marburg  conference.' 

On  July  14,  1529,  Zwingli  wrote  again  to  Philip 
of  Hesse  in  reply  to  his  letter  to  the  Zurich  Council 
and  accompanied  it  with  the  Council's  letters  to 
Philip  and  himself.  He  stated  that  the  Council  of 
Zurich  preferred  Strassburg  as  the  place  of  meeting, 
because  it  was  only  twenty-one  miles  from  Zurich, 
and  reached  without  going  through  hostile  territory. 
At  the  same  time  if  the  place  could  not  be  changed 
he  was  ready  to  go  to  Marburg  and  CEcolampadius 
would  go  likewise." 

To  this  the  Prince  replied  on  "  Tuesday  after  St. 
James's  Day"  {i.  e.,  July  27th),  to  the  effect  that 
the  place  had  been  carefully  considered  and  was  the 
most  convenient  for  all  the  parties  and  could  not  be 
changed;  that  on  the  journey  thither  the  Swiss 
theologians  would  have  no  personal  danger  except 
when  going  over  the  fourteen  miles  between  Basel 
and  Strassburg,  and  even  this  short  stretch  was  not 
very  unsafe. °  On  July  30th  QEcolampadius  ex- 
pressed to  Zwingli  his  own  apprehensions  for  their 
safety  and  his  doubts  as  to  the  outcome  of  the  Col- 
loquy.* On  August  1st,  he  wrote  that  on  Zwingli's 
advice  he  had  tried  to  get  the  Strassburgers  to  inter- 
cede to  have  the  place  changed  from  Marburg,  but 
nothing  had  been  accomplished.'  It  is  evident  from 
this  letter  that  Zwingli's  physical  courage  was  not 


'  VIII.,  319,  320. 

«  VIII.,  320.  *  VIII.,  331. 

»Vni.,329.  »  VIII.,  333. 


1529]         The  Colloquy  of  Marburg         309 

great.  ITchad  failed  the  Reformed  cause  at  Baden. 
He  was  likely  to  do  so  at  Marburg.  Gi^colampa- 
dius  cheers  him  up  by  the  promised  presence  of 
Christ  on  the  journey.  Capito  in  Strassburg  lays 
before  him  the  ridicule  Luther  would  pour  upon 
him  if  he  failed  to  come,  the  great  desirability  on 
every  account  of  his  coming,  the  comparative  safety 
of  the  journey,  and  the  elaborate  arrangements 
made  for  it  going  and  coming.'  Butzer,  also  in 
Strassburg,  talks  in  similar  strain."  On  August  10, 
1529,  Zwingli  gave  the  definite  promise  to  come  to 
the  conference  at  Marburg,  unless  war  should  break 
out  again,  even  though  permission  to  do  so  might 
be  refused  by  the  Council.' 

The  Landgrave  wrote  him  in  reply  on  the  "  Sab- 
bath after  the  Assumption  of  Mary"  {i.  e.,  Satur- 
day, August  2 1st),  that  he  urgently  called  him,  as 
he  had  good  hopes  that  if  he  came  the  controversy 
as  to  the  Eucharist  would  be  settled."  Down  to 
August  i8th,  CEcolampadius  did  not  know  exactly 
when  they  were  to  set  forth';  but  when  he  wrote 
again  on  September  ist,  he  knew  and  had  arranged 
that  Zwingli's  arrival  in  Basel  should  be  kept  a  se- 
cret. When  he  came  it  would  be  decided  whether 
they  should  go  thence  to  Strassburg  by  boat  on  the 
Rhine  or  on  horseback.  " 

Zwingli  was  so  sure  of  a  refusal  from  the  Council 


'  See  his  letter  of  August  4th  (viii.,  336).     See  also  Sturm's  letter 
(viii.,  337). 

2  VIII.,  340. 

3  VIII.,  663,  664.  •  B  VIII.,  352. 
••VIII.,  351.  «  VIII.,  354. 


3IO  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529 

to  his  petition  to  be  allowed  to  go  that  he  never  ap- 
plied, but  quietly  left  Zurich  about  lo  P.M.  on  Fri- 
day, September  3d,  put  up  at  the  hotel  "To  the  Ox," 
in  the  suburb  called  Sihl,  just  before  the  Rennweg 
gate,  the  north-west  gate  of  the  city,  and  there 
passed  the  night.'  He  did  not  even  tell  his  wife  that 
he  was  going  farther  than  Basel.  Before  daybreak 
the  next  morning  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Great  and 
Small  Councils  of  Zurich,  explaining  and  apologis- 
ing for  his  leaving  the  city  without  permission,  by 
the  importance  of  the  coming  Colloquy  and  the  ur- 
gency of  the  Prince  of  Hesse.  He  informed  the 
Councils  that  he  had  been  refused  permission  by 
the  Small  Council,  and  anticipated  the  same  result 
if  he  addressed  them."  The  distance  to  Marburg 
was  sixty  German  miles  (or  two  hundred  and  forty 
English  miles).  Basel  would  not  only  send  CEco- 
lampadius,  but  a  delegate  from  among  the  Council- 
lors. "  If  Zurich  follows  this  example  let  the  person 
sent  be  Ulrich  Funk,  because  he  is  young  enough 
to  stand  the  long,  arduous  journey  and  besides  can 
understand  Latin,  which  will  be  the  probable  lan- 
guage of  the  Colloquy,  for  I  very  much  fear  that 
they  [the  Prince  and  the  Lutherans]  will  not  under- 
stand our  language.  I  have  taken  Rudolf  Collin 
with  me."  " 


'  Bernhard  Weis  in  Fuessli,  Beytraege,  iv.,  117  sqq.  It  was  there 
that  Samson  stopped  (p.  125  of  this  volume). 

''■  His  secret  departure  gave  rise  to  the  idea  that  the  devil  had 
carried  him  off  !  (Bullinger,  ii.,  224). 

^  VIII.,  355.  The  letter  was  doubtless  written  in  German.  It  is 
dated  "  Geben  Samitag  frlih  von  Tag  I.  Ilerbslmonat  zu  Zurich, 
1529  "  (/.  £'.,  Saturday  morning  before  the  first  day  of  September  at 


1529]        The  Colloquy  of  Marburg         311 

On  Sunday,  September  5th,  at  9  r.M.,  he  wrote  to 
the  Zurich  Council  that  he  had  arrived  in  Basel  that 
day  ' ;  would  go  by  boat  to  Strassburg  the  next  day, 
but  would  not  leave  there  till  the  i8th.  "  Have  Mas- 
ter Stoll  say  to  my  wife  whatever  ought  to  be  said  to 
a  woman,  for  when  I  left  I  told  her  only  that  I  was 

Zurich,  1529).  Now  since  the  first  day  of  September  that  year  was 
Wednesday,  it  follows  that  the  Saturday  before  was  August  28th. 
Yet  Christoffel  (p.  302,  Eng.  trans.,  p.  339),  Morikofer  (ii.,  p.  229), 
and  Staehelin  (ii.,  p.  392)  all  say  the  start  was  made  September  ist. 
The  explanation  is  that  they  either  have  not  freshly  investigated  the 
matter,  but  taken  the  statements  of  their  predecessors,  or  else  have 
followed  the  ambiguous  Latin  translation  which  reads:  "  Dedi 
Sabbati  die  mane  ante  lucem  i  Septembris  Turici  a.  1529,"  which 
may  mean  "  Given  on  Saturday  morning  before  daybreak  first  Sep- 
tember at  Zurich  in  the  year  1529,"  but  as  Saturday  was  August 
28th,  it  here  means,  "  Given  on  the  Saturday  morning  before 
the  1st  of  September,"  etc.  But  Bullinger  says  (ii.,  224)  that  the 
start  was  made  on  September  3d,  which  would  be  Friday,  so  the 
(late  of  the  letter  was  Saturday,  September  4th,  which  agrees  pre- 
cisely with  the  statement  in  Zwingli's  letter  from  Basel  (viii.,  362) 
that  he  arrived  there  Sunday,  September  5th.  So  I  believe  the  former 
letter  was  wrongly  dated  or  deciphered,  "post"  or  "  nach  "  being 
used  for  "ante"  or  "vor."  Strickler  dates  the  letter  correctly, 
September  4th  (ii.,  A.  S.,  790),  as  does  August  Baur  (ii.,  623).  The 
allusion  to  the  probable  inability  of  the  Lutherans  to  understand  the 
patois  of  Zwingli  is  interesting,  and  is  particularly  appreciated  by 
those  who  have  tried  to  converse  with  modern  Zurich  peasants. 
But  the  written  Zurich  dialect  was  just  as  bad,  for  Zwingli  wrote  to 
the  Landgrave  on  May  7,  1529,  "  that  I  address  you  in  Latin  I  do 
it  for  this  reason  only  because  I  fear  that  our  Swiss  tongue  is  strange 
to  you"  (viii.,  663).  So,  also,  to  the  same  on  July  14th  he  wrote  : 
"  I  fear  that  if  we  meet  I  shall  not  be  understood  in  my  tongue.  So 
I  do  not  know  whether  it  would  not  be  better  if  we  used  Latin  " 
(viii.,  324). 

'  The  distance  between  Zurich  and  Basel  is  only  fifty-six  miles 
by  rail,  and  is  now  made  inside  of  three  hours ;  but  was  then 
made  on  horseback,  and  might  well  take  nearly  two  days. 


3i2  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529 

going  to  Basel  on  business.  .  .  .  Do  not  suspect 
that  I  have  left  Zurich  to  seek  another  settlement."  ' 
On  the  next  day  at  the  same  hour  he  wrote  to  the 
Council  from  Strassburg,  telling  of  his  safe  arrival 
in  thirteen  hours  in  a  ship  provided  by  the  Baselers, 
and  would  remain  eleven  days.  "  I  wish  you  would 
please  tell  my  dear  wife  that  I  have  arrived  at  Strass- 
burg." ^  While  there  he  preached.  On  September 
17th  he  and  his  companion  Ulrich  Funk  wrote  to 
the  Council  that  they  should  start  the  next  day, 
which  was  Saturday,  under  the  protection  of  the 
escort.'  Next  they  are  heard  from  on  September 
22d,  at  Meisenheim,  which  is  eighty  miles  due  north 
from  Strassburg.     They  say: 

"  After  Master  Huldreich  had  written  in  our  name  how 
and  when  we  set  forth  from  Strassburg,  the  authorities  of 
Strassburg  sent  us  with  an  escort  of  soldiers  to  their 
castle  called  Kochersberg,  thence  to  the  castle  of  Herr- 
stein  [eighty-five  miles  north  of  Strassburg  and  five  miles 
north-west  of  Meisenheim],  and  treated  us  in  so  honour- 
able and  friendly  a  fashion  that  we  were  at  no  expense 
for  entertainment.  They  also  sent  the  distinguished 
Jacob  Sturm  with  two  preachers  and  an  escort  of  five 
soldiers  with  us  to  the  Landgrave,  and  when  we  had 
come  to  the  castle  of  Herrstein  some  knights  of  Duke 
Ludwig  of  Zweibriicken  met  us  and  conducted  us  in 
faithful  and  friendly  ways  through  by-paths  and  woods, 
over  mountains  and  through  valleys,  safely  and  secretly 
to  Zweibriicken  and  thence  to  the  castles  Lichtenberg 
and  Meisenheim.*     There  we  were  received  in  a  manner 


'VIII.,  361.  2  VIII.,  362.  »  VIII.,  366. 

*  The  distance  from  Herrstein  is  only  five  miles  in  a  straight  course 
south-east. 


••r 


1529]         The  Colloquy  of  Marburg         313 

no  less  friendly  and  were  at  no  expense  for  entertain- 
ment, and  found  at  our  disposal  all  and  more  than  all 
that  had  been  promised  us.  Now  with  the  help  of  God 
we  exi)ect  to  ride  to-day  [Wednesday,  September  22d] 
from  Meisenheim  to  St.  Goar,*  or  the  castle  Rheinfels 
which  is  there,  between  which  points  forty  cavalry  of  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse  will  receive  us,  and  thence  over  the 
Rhine  to  Marburg,^  where  what  we  have  come  for  will 
be  transacted." ' 

Zv^ingli  had  left  Zurich  on  September  4th,  in  com- 
pany with  the  Greek  professor  Rudolf  Collin,  as  has 
been  said  ;  when  they  reached  Marburg  on  Septem- 
ber 27th,  he  was  accompanied  by  QEcoIampadius  of 
Basel,  Butzer  and  Hedio  of  Strassburg,  and  by  rep- 
resentatives of  Zurich,  Basel,  and  Strassburg.  The 
Landgrave  entertained  them  and  Luther  and  his 
company  in  his  castle.  It  was  the  first  time  the  lead- 
ers of  the  Lutherans  and  the  Reformed  had  met  one 
another  and  much  was  expected.  Zwingli  wished 
Latin  to  be  used  exclusively  and  the  debate  to  be 
open  ;  but  Luther  carried  his  contention  for  German, 
no  shorthand  reports  of  the  speeches,*  and  a  limited 

'  Thirty  miles  almost  due  north  on  the  Rhine. 

'  Sixty-five  miles  north-east. 

'VIII.,  368. 

■•Consequently  we  have  at  best  only  reports  written  from  notes 
made  after  the  debate.  Brenz  also  declares  "  there  was  no  shorthand 
clerk  present  to  take  down  the  matter  and  none  of  the  hearers  was 
given  opportunity  to  note  down  anything"  (iv.,  201).  These  reports 
are  collected  in  iv.,  173-204  ;  and  for  the  Swiss  side  see  also  Bullin- 
ger's  account  (ii.,  223-239);  reprinted  in  part  in  Zwingli's  Works 
(ii.,  3,  45-56).  and  additional  matter  (pp.  57,  58).  The  account 
by  Collin  (iv.,  173-184),  Zwingli's  travelling  companion,  who  was 
present  at  all  the  open  sessions,  is  here  followed. 


3H  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529 

audience  —  the  Prince  of  Hesse,  his  counsellors, 
several  nobles  and  magnates,  in  all  not  more  than 
sixty  and  perhaps  not  that  many  at  any  one  session. 
Zwingli  read  from  the  Greek  Testament;  Luther 
used  his  own  German  translation.  Once  when 
Zwingli  read  a  passage  in  Greek,  Luther  requested 
that  the  readings  be  from  the  Latin  or  German.' 
The  parties  to  the  Colloquy  were,  on  the  Zwinglian 
side,  Huldreich  Zwingli  from  Zurich,  Johann  CEco- 
lampadius  from  Basel,  Martin  Butzer  and  Caspar 
Hedio  from  Strassburg;  on  the  other  side  Martin 
Luther,  Philip  Melanchthon,  Justus  Jonas,  and  Cas- 
par Cruciger,  all  from  Wittenberg;  Friedrich  Mycon- 
ius  from  Gotha,  Johann  Brenz  from  Hall;  Andreas 
Osiander  from  Nuremberg,  and  Stephen  Agricola 
from  Augsburg.  With  a  view  to  shortening  the  de- 
bate the  Landgrave  had  arranged  that  Zwingli  and 
Melanchthon,  CEcolampadius  and  Luther  should 
meet  on  Thursday,  September  30th,  the  day  preced- 
ing that  set  for  the  Colloquy,  each  pair  apart  in  pri- 
vate. The  result  was  much  mutual  enlightenment  as 
to  their  views,  for  it  appeared  that  the  Lutherans  had 
really  erroneous  ideas  as  to  the  Zwingli  position  on 
minor  points.  In  these  private  debates  the  Zwingli- 
ans  were  apparently  on  the  defensive,  as  the  Luther- 
ans held  them  in  more  or  less  disguised  contempt. 
But  in  these  private  talks  probably,  and  certainly  in 
the  public  debate,  there  was  outward  courtesy.* 
When  on  the  next  day,  Friday,  October  ist,  the  pub- 
lic debate  began,  it  was  found  that  Luther  had  writ- 
ten before  him  upon  the  table  in  chalk  the  words: 

'  IV.,  179,  'So  Breuz  (iv.,  201). 


1529]        The  Colloquy  of  Marburg         3^5 

"  This  is  My  Body,"  in  order  not  to  allow  himself, 
says  Collin,  to  be  drawn  in  the  discussion  with 
Zwingli  and  CEcolampadius  away  from  these  words. 
Luther  opened  the  debate  by  stating  that  the  debate 
should  cover  all  points  of  Christian  doctrine,  as 
Zwingli  had  made  errors  on  other  points  than  that 
of  the  Eucharist,  upon  which  latter  subject  he 
bluntly  declared  that  he  was  sure  he  was  right  and 
always  would  be  opposed  to  the  Zwinglian  view 
that  the  words  he  had  written,  "  This  is  My  Body," 
were  to  be  taken  other  than  literally.  To  which 
Zwingli  replied  that  the  conference  should  be  re- 
stricted to  the  single  subject  to  discuss  which  it  was 
called,  and  so  the  matter  was  arranged.  Neither 
side  had  the  smallest  intention  to  yield  to  the  other 
upon  a  single  point,  and  both  sides  expressed  the 
greatest  contempt  for  the  opposite  side's  arguments. 
The  debate  at  first  took  the  form  of  a  colloquy  be- 
tween Luther  and  CEcolampadius.  Then  Zwingli 
joined  in  and  accused  Luther  of  judging  the  case 
before  he  heard  it  in  that  he  declared  that  he  was 
not  going  to  withdraw  from  his  opinion.  This 
sounded  well,  but  Zwingli  was  open  to  precisely  the 
same  charge.  Both  Luther  and  Zwingli  were  in- 
vulnerable to  all  arguments.  After  Zwingli  and 
Luther  had  debated  for  a  while,  CEcolampadius 
spoke  again,  and  Luther  rejoined.  So  the  debate 
went  on  for  two  days,  mercifully  interrupted  by 
meals  and  sleep.' 

The  principal  points  were  the  construction  to  be 

'  IV.,  179.     "  Dinner  intervened  and  cut  short  the  struggle,"  says 
Collin. 


3i6  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529 

put  upon  Christ's  words  used  at  the  table  on  the 
night  in  which  He  was  betrayed,  "  This  is  My 
Body  ";  and  the  relevancy  of  John  vi.  to  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  patristic  teaching  on 
the  subject,  and  the  nature  of  the  Body  which  could 
be  found  in  the  sacrament. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  public  debate  the  Swiss 
asked  that 

"  Luther  would  take  them  for  brethren.  This  Dr.  Mar- 
tin would  not  at  all  agree  to.  He  even  addressed  them 
very  seriously,  saying  that  he  was  exceedingly  surprised 
that  they  should  regard  him  as  a  brother  if  they  seriously 
believed  their  own  doctrine  true.  But  that  [they  con- 
sidered him  a  brother]  was  an  indication  that  they  them- 
selves did  not  think  that  there  was  much  involved  in  the 
matter." 

This  speech,  reported  by  the  faithful  pen  of 
Melanchthon,'  shows  how  much  stress  Luther  laid 
upon  his  interpretation  of  the  meaning  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  Luther  thus  put  the  matter  in  his  letter 
to  Jacobus,  the  provost  at  Bremen  : 

"As  to  the  statement  the  Sacramentarians'  are  casting 
abroad  to  the  effect  that  I  was  beaten  at  Marburg,  they 
are  acting  after  their  own  kind.  For  they  are  not  only 
liars  but  the  very  incarnation  of  lying,  deceit,  and  hypo- 
crisy, as  Carlstadt  and  Zwingli  show  by  their  very  deeds 
and  words.  But  you  see  that  in  the  Articles  formulated 
at  Marburg  they  took  back  the  pestiferous  teaching  that 
they  had  been  promulgating  in  their  ])ublished  books  in 


IV.,  189.  '  The  opprobrious  epithet  for  the  Zwinglians. 


1529J        The  Colloquy  of  Marburg         317 

regard  to  baptism,  the  use  of  the  sacraments,  the  external 
word,  and  the  rest.  We  took  back  nothing.  .  .  . 
They  professed  witli  many  words  that  they  wished  to 
agree  with  us  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  body  of  Christ  is 
truly  present  in  the  Supper,  but  spiritually,  with  the  sole 
view  that  we  deign  to  call  them  brethren,  and  so  feign 
harmony.  This  Zwingli  begged  with  tears  in  his  eyes 
before  the  Landgrave  and  all  of  them,  saying,  '  There 
are  no  people  on  earth  with  whom  I  would  rather  be  in 
harmony  than  with  the  Wittenbergers.'  They  strove 
with  the  utmost  eagerness  and  vigour  to  seem  in  har- 
mony with  us,  and  could  never  endure  the  expression  I 
used,  'You  have  a  different  spirit  from  ours.'  They 
burst  into  flame  every  time  they  heard  it."  * 

CEcolampadius  in  his  account  of  the  Colloquy  is 
very  much  milder  than  Luther  and  milder  than 
Zwingli.  He  believed  that  "  there  was  no  victory 
on  either  side  since  there  was  no  fighting  or  con- 
tending." '  Brenz  is  very  explicit  in  regard  to  the 
split  which  was  so  plainly  manifested  between 
the  speakers,  and  which  surprised  and  grieved  the 
Landgrave.      He  says: 

"  xA-fterwards,  when  the  meeting  had  been  disbanded, 
the  Prince  tried  every  possible  way  to  secure  agreement 
between  us,  speaking  to  each  one  of  us  by  himself  with- 
out witnesses,  and  begging,  warning,  exhorting,  demand- 
ing that  we  have  regard  to  the  Republic  of  Christ  and 
put  strife  away.  [Failing  to  secure  the  absolute  submis- 
sion of  the  Zwinglians]  we  decided  with  one  voice  that 
they  were  outside  the  Communion  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  could  not  be  recognised  by  us  as  brethren 

'IV.,  190.  nv..  191. 


3^8  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529 

and  members  of  the  Church.  This  our  opponents 
thought  very  hard  indeed.  .  .  .  But  when  the  Prince 
also  thought  it  hard  we  modified  our  decision  so  far  as 
to  be  willing  to  recognise  our  opponents  of  the  Zwingli 
and  CEcolampadius  following  as  friends,  but  not  as 
brethren  and  members  of  the  Church  of  Christ."' 

Justus  Jonas,  another  Lutheran  who  was  present, 
characterised  the  Zwinglian  disputants  thus: 

"  Zwingli  has  something  countrified  about  him,  and  at 
the  same  time  arrogant  ;  CEcolampadius  has  a  wonderful 
kindness  of  disposition  and  tolerance  ;  Hedio  is  as 
courteous  as  he  is  liberal-minded  ;  Butzer  has  the  crafti- 
ness of  the  fox,  a  distorted  imitation  of  acuteness  and 
wisdom.  They  are  all  learned  beyond  a  doubt,  and  the 
Papalists  are  no  opponents  in  comparison  with  them, 
but  Zwingli  seems  to  have  gone  into  letters  under  the 
wrath  of  the  Muses  and  against  the  will  of  Minerva." " 

But  it  was  not  entirely  in  vain  that  the  disputants 
met.  They  had  been  in  such  mutual  ignorance  of 
each  other's  real  views  upon  other  topics  than  the 
Eucharist,  and  of  the  arguments  by  which  they  sus- 
tained them,  that  it  was  much  to  make  them  mutually 
acquainted,  on  these  points.  They  discovered  with 
surprise  and  perhaps  with  gratitude  that  they  agreed 
upon  nearly  everything.  So,  greatly  to  the  Land- 
grave's satisfaction,  they  drew  up  Articles  upon 
their  points  of  agreement  and  all  signed  them  on 
October  3d.'     They  also   came  a  little  closer  to- 

"IV.,  203.  UV.,  204. 

'See  the  Articles  with  Zwingli's  notes  (iv.,  181-184). 


1529]         The  Colloquy  of  Marburg         319 

gether.  CEcolampadius  and  Melanchthon,  both 
mild-mannered  men,  probably  could  be  cordial  to 
one  another,  but  between  Luther  and  Zwingli  there 
could  be  no  cordiality.' 

How  much  longer  they  might  have  stayed  at  Mar- 
burg is  uncertain,  but  the  outbreak  in  the  town  of  the 
deadly  pestilence  called  the  "  English  Sweat'"  quite 
naturally  hastened  their  departure.  So  on  Tues- 
day, October  5th,  they  left.  The  Zwingli  party 
went  to  Strassburg  directly  under  the  escort  of 
Count  Wilhelm  von  Fiirstenburg  and  arrived  there 
safely  on  October  15th;  and  on  Tuesday,  October 
19th,  Zwingli  was  once  more  in  Zurich. 

The  next  day  he  wrote  this  letter  to  Vadianus,' 
in  which  he  claims  the  victory,  but  writes  in  much 
milder  language  than  Luther: 

"  Grace  and  peace  from  the  Lord.  I  will  now  write 
briefly  what  you  desire  to  know.  After  we  had  been 
brought  under  the  safest  conduct  to  Marburg,  and  Luther 
with  his  party  had  come,  the  Prince  Landgrave  deter- 
mined that  CEcolampadius  and  Luther,  Melanchthon 
and  Zwingli,  should  meet  two  by  two  in  private  to  see 
whether  they  could  not  find  some  ground  of  agreement 
upon  which  they  could  found  peace.     Hereupon  Luther 

'  Writing  to  Zwingli  on  February  i,  1530,  the  Landgrave  renews 
his  acceptance  of  the  Zwinglian  position  throughout  {cf.  viii.,  405). 
So  there  was  at  least  one  convert  to  the  Zwinglian  side  made  or  con- 
firmed by  the  Colloquy. 

^  This  disease  originated  in  England  in  1485,  and  manifested  itself 
in  1506,  15 1 7,  and  now  for  the  fourth  time.  It  was  characterized 
by  a  rapid  course  and  high  mortality.  See  Hecker's  Epide7nics  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  passim, 

•VIII.,  369.  370. 


320  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529 

received  Q^colampadius  in  such  a  way  that  the  latter 
came  to  me  complaining  secretly  that  he  had  met  another 
Eck — but  this  is  to  be  told  to  the  trusty  alone. 

"  But  as  for  Melanchthon  he  was  so  slippery  and  so 
transformed  himself  after  the  manner  of  Proteus  that  he 
compelled  me  to  seize  a  pen,  to  arm  my  hand  and  dry  it 
as  with  salt  and  so  hold  him  more  firmly  as  he  glided 
around  in  all  sorts  of  escapes  and  subterfuges.  From 
this  I  send  you  a  few  examples  out  of  the  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  things  said,  yet  under  the  condition  that 
you  are  not  to  communicate  them  to  any  except  the 
trusty,  /.  e.,  those  who  will  not  make  a  text  for  trouble 
out  of  them,  for  Philip  [Melanchthon]  himself  has  a  copy 
of  them.  It  was  written  by  me  while  he  was  looking  on 
and  reading  all,  and  sometimes  dictating  his  own  words. 
But  I  do  not  wish  to  give  rise  to  a  new  quarrel.  Philip 
and  I  were  engaged  in  conversation  for  six  hours,' 
Luther  and  QLcolampadius  for  three.  On  the  next  day, 
in  the  presence  of  the  Landgrave  and  twenty-four  wit- 
nesses, Luther  and  Melanchthon  and  CEcolampadius  and 
Zwingli  went  into  the  arena  and  fought  there  and  in 
three  other  sessions.  For  there  were  four  in  all  in  which 
we  contended  successfully.  For  we  presented  to  Luther 
as  needing  explanation  the  fact  that  he  had  propounded 
those  thrice  foolish  statements  :  that  Christ  suffered  in 


'  The  topics  were  the  Trinity,  Original  Sin,  the  relation  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  the  written  Word  of  God,  and  the  Eucharist.  It 
turned  out  that  Melanchthon  and  the  Lutherans  generally  held  the 
Zwinglians  in  so  great  contempt  that  they  had  not  taken  the  trouble 
to  study  their  books  and  find  out  what  they  believed  ;  while  the 
Zwinglians  were  so  jealous  of  the  Lutherans  that  they  could  not  listen 
to  them.  Consequently  to  their  common  shame  the  two  parties  were 
ignorant  of  one  another  and  credulous  of  every  story  to  their  oppo- 
nents' discredit. 


1529J        The  Colloquy  of  Marburg         321 

His  divine  nature  ;  that  the  Body  of  Christ  is  everywhere  ; 
and  that  the  flesh  could  not  profit  of  itself  otherwise  than 
as  he  now  asserted.  But  the  fine  fellow  made  no  reply, 
except  that  in  the  matter  of  the  flesh  not  profiting  he 
said  :  *  You  know,  Zwingli,  that  as  time  progressed  and 
their  judgment  grew,  all  the  Fathers  treated  the  passages 
of  Scripture  in  ways  different  from  the  earlier  exposi- 
tions.' Then  he  said  :  '  The  Body  of  Christ  is  eaten  cor- 
poreally in  our  body,  but  in  the  meantime  I  will  reserve 
this  to  myself  whether  the  Body  is  eaten  by  the  soul.' 
And  yet  a  little  before  he  had  said  :  '  The  Body  of  Christ 
is  eaten  with  the  mouth  corporeally,  the  soul  does  not 
eat  Him  corporeally.'  He  also  said  :  *  The  Body  of 
Christ  is  produced  by  these  words,  "  This  is  My  Body," 
no  matter  how  wicked  the  man.  who  pronounces  these 
words.'  He  conceded  that  the  Body  of  Christ  is  finite. 
He  admitted  that  the  Eucharist  can  be  called  the  sign  of 
the  Body  of  Christ.  These  and  other  innumerable  vacil- 
lating, absurd,  and  foolish  utterances  of  his,  which  he 
babbled  forth  like  pebbles  on  a  beach,  we  so  argued  on 
that  now  the  Prince  himself  is  on  our  side,  although  for 
the  sake  of  certain  princes  he  pretended  not  to  be.  Al- 
most all  the  Court  of  Hesse  have  deserted  Luther.  He 
himself  grants  that  our  books  could  be  read  without 
harm.  Hereafter  he  will  suffer  the  parties  who  agree 
with  us  to  retain  their  positions.  Prince  John  of  Saxony 
was  not  present,  but  the  Prince  of  Wittenberg  was. 

"  We  parted  with  the  understanding  which  you  will  see 
in  print.  Truth  was  so  clearly  superior  that,  if  ever  any 
one  was  overcome,  Luther,  the  impudent  and  obstinate,' 

'  hnpudens  et  contumax.  Gicolampadius,  on  February  12,  1530, 
urged  Zwingli  to  write  a  book  to  match  Luther's  on  the  Marburg 
Colloquy,  in  which  he  claimed  the  victory  (viii.,  410).  Zwingli 
complains  of  Luther's  boast  (viii.,  669). 


o-^ 


Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529 


was  beaten,  and  before  a  wise  and  just  judge,  although 
meantime  he  was  unconquered.  We  have  effected  this 
good,  that  after  we  shall  agree  in  the  other  dogmas  of 
the  Christian  religion,  the  Pope's  party  cannot  entertain 
the  hope  that  Luther  will  be  theirs.  While  I  write  this 
I  am  wearied  with  my  journey*;  when  you  come  to  us 
you  shall  have  a  full  report.  For  I  think  we  have  also 
gained  something  else  ;  things  that  will  prove  a  safeguard 
for  religion  and  against  the  monarchy  of  C^sar.  These 
also  shall  be  set  forth  to  you  when  the  time  shall  demand 
it.  Meanwhile,  farewell,  and  greet  all  friends. 
"  Yours, 

"  Huldreich  Zwingli. 
"Zurich,  October  20,  1529." 

On  November  2d,  Zwingli  wrote  a  letter  of  thanks 
to  the  Landgrave,  beginning  it  thus: 

"  I  give  you  my  hearty  thanks  for  your  kindly  offer  if 
I  wish  to  better  my  condition,  and  I  thank  you  also  for 
the  zeal  you  have  shown  in  providing  for  our  return 
home.  But  the  time  was  much  too  short  for  CEcolam- 
padius  and  all  of  us,  not  merely  in  the  matter  of  the 
conference,  but  also  on  other  accounts.  We  were  hin- 
dered by  the  power  of  certain  preachers  for  instance." ' 

This  shows  that  the  Landgrave  tried  to  take 
Zwingli  away  from  Zurich  and  also,  as  the  preceding 
letter  does,  that  other  business  was  discussed  be- 
tween them  than  purely  religious  affairs/ 


'  He  had  arrived  in  Zurich  the  day  before. 

2  VIII.,  664. 

*  This  point  will  be  brought  out  more  fully  in  the  next  chapter. 


I  ? 


CHAPTER  XV 

ZWINGLI'S    POLITICAL    ACTIVITY    IN    HIS    CLOSING 
YEARS 

1529-I53I 

ZWINGLI'S  correspondence  during  1529,  1530, 
and  1 53 1  shows  how  much  absorbed  he  was 
in  the  schemes  for  advancing  evangelical  religion  by 
means  of  a  political  alliance.  In  the  beginning 
Zurich  stood  alone,  but,  on  December  25,  1527, 
made  an  alliance  with  Constance,  which  was  known 
as  the  "  Christian  Burgher  Rights  "  ;  by  September, 
1529,  Bern,  St.  Gall,  Biel,  Miilhausen,  Basel,  and 
Schaffhausen  had  also  joined.  But  Zwingli  was 
ambitious  to  extend  this  alliance.  While  on  his 
way  to  Marburg  he  obtained  some  important  in- 
formation at  Strassburg,  which  he  despatched  to 
the  Zurich  authorities,  relating  to  the  intentions 
of  Ferdinand,  Archduke  of  Austria,  the  Emperor, 
and  the  Pope,  all  of  whom  plotted  the  destruction 
of  the  Zwinglians  and  then  of  the  Lutherans.'  In 
his  letter  to  Vadianus  on  his  return  home  he  said : 
I  think  we  have  gained  .  .  .  things  which 
will  prove  a  safeguard  for  religion  and  against  the 

'  VIII.,  363,  365.     He  sent  it  also  to  Constance,  pp,  428-430. 
323 


324  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529- 

monarchy  of  Caesar  [the  Emperor]."  '  This  remark 
and  his  letter  to  Philip  of  Hesse "  of  November 
2rKi,  plainly  show,  as  has  been  elsewhere  said/ 
that  other  things  than  theology,  and  things, 
too,  in  which  Zwingli  had  keener  interest,  were 
discussed  at  Marburg/  Philip  and  the  Duke  of 
Wurtemberg  desired  to  join  the  Christian  Burgher 
Rights  and  also  to  bring  in  the  Protestant  princes 
and  cities  of  North  Germany.  Zwingli  hoped  to 
have  in  the  league  all  the  South  German  Protestant 
cities.  He  even  considered  it  possible  to  lure 
Venice  into  it,  as  he  had  learned  that  that  city  was 
favourable  to  the  Protestant  movement^;  and  also 
France. *  As  the  alliance  grew  he  more  and  more 
keenly  anticipated  the  time  when  the  Protestants 
of  South  Germany  and  Switzerland  would  be  so 
numerous  and  strong  that  no  such  insulting  propos- 
ition would  dare  be  made  about  "Sacramentarians  " 
as  was  made  at  Spires  in  1529,  nor  would  any  in- 
tentionally insulting  epithet  be  given  to  them.  The 
solemn  determination  of  the  Emperor  to  put  down 
heresy  in  Germany,  and  the  increasing  insolence  and 
persecuting  spirit  on  the  part  of  the  Forest  Cantons 


'VIII..  370.         2  VIII.,  664. 
^  See  p.  342. 

*  So  Bullinger,  ii.,  236.  QLcolampadius  was  not  in  the  secret 
apparently  (viii.,  375). 

*  Luther  also  {Brief  e,   ed.  de  Wette,  iii.,  289). 

®  Butzer,  or  perhaps  Jacob  Sturm,  on  December  15,  1529  (viii., 
383),  speaks  of  the  report  brought  by  the  German  Count  von  Hoh- 
enlohe,  that  the  Pope,  the  Emperor,  the  King  of  France,  and  the 
Duke  of  Guise  were  leagued  together  against  the  Gospel  in  Germany 
and  Switzerland. 


I53I]       Zwingli's  Political  Activity        325 

made  the  alliance  seem  all  the  more  desirable,  and 
explain  and  excuse  Zwingli's  energetic  efforts  to 
effect  it.  How  closely  he  united  politics  and  re- 
ligion is  strikingly  shown  in  his  preface  to  his  trans- 
lation of  Isaiah,'  in  which  he  mingles  a  discussion 
of  the  best  form  of  government — monarchy,  aristo- 
cracy, and  democracy,  deciding  for  the  second  — 
with  strictly  religious  themes. 

Zwingli's  political  activity  made  an  unfavourable 
impression  upon  Luther  —  who  was  prejudiced  any- 
way— and  upon  many  others  who  shared  his  opinion 
that  such  resort  to  worldly  politics  betrayed  mistrust 
of  spiritual  forces.  The  Lutheran  princes  rejected 
at  Schmalkald,  on  December  3,  1529,  the  alliance 
with  the  Zwinglians  proposed  by  the  Landgrave,  a 
refusal  which  damped  the  ardour  of  the  South  Ger- 
man cities.  Ulm  determined  to  hold  off  from  any 
alliance  with  the  Swiss."  Zwingli's  hopes  to  get 
Venice '  and  France  into  the  alliance  were  equally 
vain.  In  view  of  his  vehement  denunciations  of  the 
alliance  between  the  Swiss  and  the  foreign  princes 
it  was  apparently  very  inconsistent  in  him  to  seek 
such  alliance,  and  an  alliance,  too,  with  bigoted 
Roman  Catholic  Powers,  one  of  which  (France) 
had  herself  oppressed  Protestantism ;  but  the  just- 
ification to  his    mind    was   the   supposed    peril  to 


•  v.,  483-489. 

'  Vadian,  Deutsche  Sckriften,  iii.,  263  ;  Escher,  Die  Glaubenspar- 
teien  in  der  Eidgenossenschaft  und  ihre  Beziehungen  zum  Auzland 
(Frauenfeld,  1882),  p.  126. 

*  Cf.  his  letter  to  the  Zurich  magistrates  from  Strassburg,  Septem- 
ber 17,  1529  (viii. ,  365  sqq.)^  and  that  to  Philip  of  Hesse  (viii.,  665). 


326  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529- 

Protestantism  proceeding  from  the  union  of  Pope 
and  Emperor.  The  city  of  Zurich,  acting  as  the 
spokesman  for  all  the  cities  in  the  Christian 
Burgher  Rights  in  these  special  efforts,  was  repre- 
sented by  Rudolf  Collin,'  who  had  been  present  at 
Zwingli's  political  discussion  with  the  Landgrave, 
and  knew,  therefore,  the  whole  matter,  and  was 
Zwingli's  choice  as  delegate  to  Venice  and  France. 
He  left  Zurich  December  i  ith,  and  after  a  somewhat 
dangerous  journey  came  into  the  Doge  of  Venice's 
presence  on  December  25th.  The  mission  was  in 
vain,  for  Venice  had  just  concluded  an  alliance  with 
the  Emperor.  Collin  was  back  in  Zurich  on  Janu- 
ary 19th,  and  made  a  report  to  the  Zurich  Senate." 
It  is  every  way  probable  that  Francis  I.,  King  of 
France,  and  not  Zwingli,  made  the  first  overtures 
toward  an  alliance,  for  it  is  notorious  that  though 
Francis  I.  persecuted  the  Reformed  in  France,  he 
was  willing  to  make  alliances  with  the  Reformed 
States  because  he  thought  thereby  to  hurt  his  foe, 
the  Emperor.  That  such  a  union  was  projected  by 
the  French  King  was  perfectly  well  known.'     On 

'  See  biographical  sketch  by  Konrad  Furrer,  Halle,  1862  (reprint 
from  Zeitschrift  fiir  Wissenschaftliche  Theologie),  pp.  48  sqq. 

'^  See  Zwingli's  planning  for  the  Venetian  alliance  (ii.,  3,  67-68). 
On  December  27,  1529,  he  learned  from  Peter  Tschudi  (viii.,  386  sqq.^ 
at  Coire  that  the  Venetians  had  made  an  alliance  with  the  Emperor, 
so  Collin's  report  did  not  surprise  him.  Capito  speaks  of  Collin's 
reception  (viii.,  445).  It  appears  from  a  letter  of  Duke  Ulrich  of 
Wurtemberg  that  even  after  this  rebuff  Zwingli  still  had  hopes 
(viii.,  411). 

^  Cf.  a  letter  to  Zwingli,  dated  January  18,  1530,  wherein  two 
Swiss  in  the  service  of  the  King  of  f>ance  offer  their  services  to 
bring  about  a  conference  between  the  representative  of  the  King  and 


I53I]       Zw  ingli's  Political  Activity        327 

February  i6th,  Lambert  Maigret,  the  French  Am- 
bassador, wrote  to  Zwingli  from  Baden,  fourteen 
miles  north  by  west  of  Zurich,  acknowledging  the 
receipt  of  Zwingli's  letter  upon  the  subject,  and 
asking  for  the  draught  of  the  proposed  alliance  with 
France,  as  he  had  done  before,  but  Zwingli  re- 
fused on  February  i8th  to  communicate  details 
of  his  plans  because,  among  other  reasons,  he 
was  not  quite  sure  of  the  sincerity  of  the  King's 
intentions.'  Maigret  again  on  February  2ist  re- 
peated his  request  to  see  the  plan,"  and  Zwingli  at 
last  acquiesced  and  sent  him  by  Collin  a  draught  of 
a  treaty  for  the  French  King  to  sign,'  which  was  ac- 
knowledged, on  February  27th,  by  him  and  his  col- 
league, D'Angerant,  at  Freiburg,  seventy  miles 
south-west  of  Zurich/  Maigret  cautiously  declared 
that  he  could  do  nothing  while  the  King's  sons  were 
in  captivity,  nor  did  he  dare  to  send  a  letter  to  the 
King  on  the  matter  lest  his  messenger  be  seized. 
And  so  the  negotiations  ended.  Yet  from  allusions 
in  his  later  letters  it  is  evident  that  Zwingli  did  not 
give  up  all  hope  of  eventually  bringing  the  French 
King-  into  some  sort  of  an  alliance.* 


of  the  Zurich  allies  (viii.,  397).  The  Landgrave  of  Hesse  took  great 
interest  in  this  mission  {cf.  his  letter  of  February  i,  1530,  viii.,  404 
sqq^.  As  these  negotiations  were  delicate,  the  Landgrave  and  the 
Duke  of  Wurtemberg  in  writing  to  Zwingli  employed  arbitrary  signs 
in  their  letters  to  designate  certain  persons,  mostly  sovereigns,  and 
also  the  correspondents  themselves.  Cf.  letter  to  Zwingli  of  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1530  (viii.,  411). 

'  VIIL,  414.  ^  VIII.,  416-418.     It  is  undated  and  unsigned. 

'^  VIII. ,415.         4  VIII.,  421-42. 

^  On  April  5,  1530,  he  wrote  :  "So  far  as  I  now  see,  the  French 
affair  hancrs  fire  till  the  hostages  of  the  Kintr  are  either  returned  or 


328  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529- 

Zwingli  hoped  to  include  Ulm  in  the  alh'ance,  but 
failed  through  treachery,  as  he  complains.'  He  was 
suspicious  that  the  French  delegates  were  in  secret 
communication  with  the  Five  Forest  Cantons  and 
so  counselled  against  a  treaty  with  those  cantons.^ 
The  alliance  which  Zwingli  and  Zurich  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  on  the  other  were 
eager  to  have  Bern  and  the  other  Swiss  Reformed 
cities  make  with  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  was  so 


all  hope  of  recovering  them  has  vanished"  (viii.,  443).  On  July  22, 
1530,  he  wrote  :  "  The  King  of  France  is  feeling  great  joy,  and  has 
himself  written  that  his  sons  [who  had  been  in  Charles  V.'s  hands 
since  1526]  have  been  returned"  (viii.,  483).  On  January  23,  1531, 
he  wrote,  relative  to  the  proposal  to  include  the  French  King  in  the 
Schmalkald  League  (see  next  chapter),  this  extraordinary  acquies- 
cence in  the  latter's  hiring  the  Swiss  to  fight  his  battles,  which  is 
entirely  contrary  to  Zwingli's  previous  utterances  and  conduct  in  the 
matter  of  pensions  :  "I  am  of  the  opinion  that  public  money  or 
allowances  which  are  given  for  the  preservation  of  peace  are  for  no 
reason  to  be  abolished,  for  it  is  as  lawful  to  receive  them  as  it  is 
tribute  or  customs  ;  and  then  the  King —  or  any  other  ruler,  say  the 
Austrian  tyrant,  will  on  that  account  be  less  likely  to  be  opposed  to 
us.  And  particularly  the  King  [of  France]  will  on  this  account  op- 
pose us  the  less,  who  is  assuredly  not  to  be  despised.  For  however 
he  has  corrupted  our  republics  by  bribery,  nay,  destroyed  them,  yet 
it  is  clear  that  he  alone  thus  far  is  the  only  one  who  with  the  Swiss 
has  opposed  the  erection  of  a  monarchy  or  its  degeneration,  when 
once  erected,  into  a  tyranny.  There  is  a  limit  to  these  things.  To 
private  subsidies  I  am  altogether  opposed,  public  I  am  not  willing  to 
beg,  but  will  receive  when  offered.  Even  Solomon  received  immense 
gifts  from  the  Queen  of  Sheba"  (viii.,  572).  On  March  14,  1531,  the 
French  delegates,  Maigret  and  Daugertin,  addressed  him  in  behalf 
of  their  King  and  tried  to  get  his  assent  to  an  alliance  (viii.,  603  S(/.). 

'  VIII.,  422,  429.  Ulm,  however,  was  won  for  the  Reformation 
(viii.,  607  s(/.). 

«VIII.,  432. 


I53I]       Zwingli's  Political  Activity        329 

vigorously  opposed  by  Bern  that  it  could  not  be 
effected.'  So  the  only  outlying  city  to  come  into 
the  alliance  was  Strassburg/  and  this  event  was 
celebrated  on  January  27,  1530,  by  a  joyful  feast 
given  in  Zurich  to  the  Strassburg  commissioners. 
But  the  friendly  relations  between  Zwingli  and  the 
Landgrave  continued  all  the  same.  Zwingli  kept  a 
close  watch  upon  the  Emperor  and  availed  himself 
of  all  sources  of  knowledge  as  to  his  movements, 
which  he  viewed  with  great  suspicion^;  for  he  be- 
lieved that  if  the  Emperor  were  able  to  suppress  the 
Reformation  in  Germany  he  would  next  try  to  do 
the  same  thing  in  Switzerland. 

All  knew  that  much  would  depend  upon  the  Diet 
to  be  held  at  Augsburg  on  June  30,  1530.  Both 
parties  among  the  Protestants  in  the  Empire  made 
great  preparation  to  effect  their  ends  in  it,  but  only 
showed  thereby  their  radical  differences,  while  their 
rulers,  except  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  inclined 
more  or  less  to  make  terms  with  the  Emperor  for 
political  ends.^  The  Roman  Catholics  confidently 
awaited  results.  Zwingli,  on  March  26th,  offered  to 
attend  the  Diet  under  the  protection  of  the  Land- 
grave.* But  perhaps  the  Landgrave  could  not  pro- 
tect him,  and  so  as  no  one  else  would,  when  the  time 


>  VIII.,  404,  405 ;  cf.  411,  412.  ^  VIII.,  383  ;  cf.  393. 

'  Cf.  viii.,  422  sq. 

^  The  situation  is  plainly  laid  bare  in  a  letter  of  Capito  to  Zwingli 
written  on  April  22,  1530  (viii.,  445  sq.).  Butzer  shows  the  general 
confidence  among  the  Reformed  in  the  Landgrave  (viii.,  449).  So 
also  Capito  (viii.,  454), 

5  VIII.,  438. 


330  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529- 

came  he  did  not  go.'  CEcolampadius  proposed  on 
May  22,  1530,  that  the  three  cantons  of  Zurich, 
Bern,  and  Basel  should  unite  in  a  delegate  to  Augs- 
burg, who  could  speak  in  French,  and  in  connection 
with  the  delegates  from  Strassburg,  lay  before  the 
Emperor  the  case  of  the  Reformed.' 

Although  Zwingli  was  absent  his  interest  in  the 
Diet  was  intense  and  his  many  friends  who  were 
present  kept  him  informed  of  what  went  on.'  The 
expressions  his  friends  used,  such  as,  the  "ragings  of 
the  Lutherans  "  ;  "  the  deceits  of  the  not  too  frank 
Melanchthon  "  ;  ^  Luther  "plays  the  buffoon,"* 
showed  that  the  Reformed  were  quite  the  equals  of 
the  Lutherans  in  suspicion  and  abuse,  and  gave  no 
promise  that  the  Diet  would  not  emphasise  their 
unhappy  differences.  On  the  other  hand,  the  un- 
fortunate Carlstadt  is  spoken  of  very  respectfully 
and  even  affectionately  by  the  Swiss ;  probably  he 
was,  as  Zwingli  says,  "  a  very  different  man  from 
what  Luther  made  him  out  to  be."  ^ 


'  Unfortunately  his  letters,  which  doubtless  threw  light  upon  his 
motives  or  those  of  the  Zurich  authorities  in  the  matter,  have  been 
lost.  In  view  of  Zwingli's  absence  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to 
merely  the  points  of  contact  between  him  and  the  Diet. 

^  VIII.,  456.  The  request  for  a  French  speaker  is  noteworthy  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  Charles  V.  opened  the  Diet  in  German  speech 
(viii.,  469).  But  this  was  probably  read  by  him,  for  it  is  notorious 
that  he  had  at  least  only  an  imperfect  acquaintance  with  the  German 
(Suppl.,  p.  38  sq.). 

'^  Cf.  viii.,  483.  The  letters  of  Sturm  from  Augsburg,  May  31  and 
June  28,  1530,  are  particularly  graphic  (viii.,  458,  459,  465  .f^.).  C/. 
also  the  letters  of  Butzer  in  Egli's  Analecla  Keforfnatoria,  i.,  44-60, 

*  Both  Butzer  and  CEcolampadius,  respectively  (viii,,  460). 

'CEcolampadius  (viii.,  471). 

«VIII.,  461  ;  cf.  pp.  456-458,  599, 


i53i]       Zwingli's  Political  Activity        331 

With  mutual  dislike  between  the  Lutherans  and 
the  Zwinglians,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  it 
was  impossible  for  the  Protestants  to  present  a 
united  front  to  the  common  foe,  the  imperial  party 
and  their  ecclesiastical  allies.  The  Swiss  were  so 
obnoxious  to  the  latter,  both  as  republicans  and  as 
aids  to  the  French,  that  it  required  courage  to  show 
themselves  in  the  Diet,  and  no  prince  defended 
them  except  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  and  he  only 
secretly.*  Zwingli  was  so  hated,  as  being  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  opposition  both  religious  and  political  to 
imperialistic  schemes  of  all  kinds,  that  it  would  have 
been  useless  hardihood  for  him  to  have  ventured 
there  without  protection.  Indeed  to  be  a  friend  of 
his  was  sufficient  to  bring  a  person  into  danger,  as 
Capito  and  Butzer  found,  who  attended  the  Diet  as 
delegates  from  Strassburg.  So  at  first  they  hid 
themselves,  but  afterwards  emerged.* 

The  confession  of  faith  which  the  Lutherans 
presented  to  the  Emperor  was  accepted  by  Philip 
of  Hesse.'  Knowing  full  well  that  he  could  not 
accept  any  Lutheran  confession  of  faith,  Zwingli 
prepared  inside  of  three  days  a  brief  statement  of 

•VIII.,  467;  cf.  p.  473, 

"^  Butzer  started  for  Augsburg,  Sunday,  June  igth  ;  Capito  the 
next  day.  The  distance  is  about  145  miles  in  a  straight  line,  run- 
ning east  by  a  little  south  from  Strassburg.  Capito,  and  probably 
Butzer  also,  certainly  rode  upon  the  highway  which  ran  through 
Esslingen,  almost  due  east,  near  Stuttgart.  Butzer  arrived  at  Augs- 
burg on  Friday,  June  23rd,  which  was  the  day  before  that  of  the 
Nativity  of  St.  John  the  Baptist ;  Capito  on  Sunday,  June  26th  (viii., 
472,  484)- 

^  This  action  did  not  prevent  Zwingli  from  writing  him  a  most 
respectful  and  admiring  letter  on  June  22nd  (viii.,  482  sq^. 


332  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529- 

his  belief,  had  it  printed  in  Zurich,  signed  the  pre- 
face on  J  uly  3rd,  the  same  day  sent  it  by  messenger  to 
Augsburg,  and  curiously  enough  there  he  relied  upon 
a  Roman  Catholic,  the  Bishop  Designate  of  Con- 
stance, to  see  that  the  Emperor  got  it,  which  he  did 
on  July  8th.'  The  Lutherans  received  it  with  scorn. 
But  then  as  the  Reformed  belittled  everything  the 
Lutherans  did,  it  was  only  tit  for  tat.  Eck  made  it 
the  occasion  of  a  bitter  attack  on  Zwingli,  who  replied 
on  August  27,  1530."  The  Emperor,  of  course,  was 
totally  unaffected  by  it,  probably  never  read  a  line 
of  it.  But  in  and  out  of  the  Diet  it  was  closely  read.' 
Though  the  Diet  was  not  dissolved  till  November 
19th,  the  Landgrave  left  Augsburg  on  August 
6th.  His  intention  to  do  so  was  known  to  Zwingli, 
for  on  August  3rd  he  endeavoured  to  dissuade  him 
from  doing  so,  but  the  letter  must  have  arrived 
after  he  had  gone.^  In  this  month  Zwingli  again 
urged  Bern  to  admit  the  Landgrave  into  the  Christ- 
ian Burgher  Rights.*  Zwingli  considered  the 
threats  of  the  pontifical  party  as  not  likely  to  be 
carried  out,  owing  to  the  significant  fact  that  the  in- 
habitants of  the  German  cities,  where  nominally  they 
were  in  command,  were  really  disaffected  and  would 
prove  traitors.     They  relied  upon  the  divided  state 

'  The  Confession  is  given  in  iv.,  3-18  ;  the  English  translation  by 
Rev.  Prof.  Dr.  H.  E.  Jacobs,  Book  of  Concord,  ii.,  158-179,  is 
reprinted  in  the  Appendix  to  this  volume.  Zwingli  was  probably 
aware  that  the  South  German  cities  of  Strassburg,  Constance,  Mem- 
mingen,  and  Lindau  were  about  to  present  a  Confession  of  their  own, 
which  they  did  on  July  nth. 

2  IV.,  19-41  ;  cf.  viii.,  490.  ''VIII.,  487. 

3  VIII.,  486,  487.  «  VIII.,  4S8. 


I53I]       Zwingli's  Political  Activity        333 

of  Protestantism.  The  way  to  oppose  their  strata- 
gems, which  so  alarmed  the  Protestants,'  was  in  his 
judgment  this: 

"  The  truth  must  be  acknowledged  with  the  greatest 
boldness,  and  whatever  is  due  to  the  Emperor  must  be 
promised,  provided  only  that  he  leaves  us  full  liberty  of 
our  faith  ;  unless,  indeed,  from  the  Word  of  God  he  shall 
have  shown  us  something  else,  or  by  fair,  free,  and  open 
comparison  shall  have  gained  some  other  victory.  If  he 
shall  refuse  to  do  this,  you  will  reply  that  you  are  grieved 
that  the  Emperor  has  been  so  deceived  by  false  prophets 
as  to  believe  that  he  has  a  power  over  your  souls  and 
your  faith  which  no  devout  emperor  has  ever  assumed, 
or  if  one  has  assumed  it,  no  one  has  ever  conceded. 
And  that  therefore  you  will  undergo  everything  rather 
than  move  from  your  position,  unless  the  Word  of  God 
move  you.  Upon  this,  believe  me,  the  papal  party  will 
withdraw.  For  they  know  that  if  they  impel  the  Emperor 
to  the  use  of  force  they  will  speedily  go  to  destruction  ; 
for  all  their  possessions  are  open  to  pillage,  and  when 
these  perish  the  victory  is  not  gained.  This  knot  is  to 
be  loosed  by  means  of  firmness.  If  you  reply  that  what 
I  say  is  true,  but  that  united  counsel  cannot  be  reached, 
I  reply  that  it  is  possible,  only  you  must  always  act  with 
prudence,  love,  and  wisdom.  When  the  Roman  empire, 
or  any  empire,  has  once  begun  to  suppress  a  sincere 
religion,  and  we  neglectfully  permit  it,  we  shall  be  no 
less  guilty  of  denying  or  contemning  it  than  the  oppress- 
ors themselves."* 


T*l 


he  Strassburg  theologians,  Capito  and  Butzer, 


•VIII.,  494,  496,  504.  «VIII.,  493. 


334  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1529- 

tried  faithfully  to  hit  upon  some  formula  relating  to 
the  Eucharist  which  might  be  acceptable  to  Luther- 
ans and  Reformed  alike,  and  both  visited  Zwingli, 
the  former  on  Septemper  4th,  and  the  latter  in 
October.  Zwingli  agreed  to  a  formula,'  but  such 
compromises  could  avail  nothing. 

The  Landgrave  requested  Zwingli,  on  January  25, 
1530,  to  write  out  for  him  the  sermon  upon  Pro- 
vidence which  he  had  preached  at  Marburg,*  and 
Zwingli  complied.'  On  "  Monday  after  Dionysius' 
Day,"  i.  e.,  on  October  10,  1530,  the  Landgrave 
wrote  urging  him  to  hasten  his  admittance  into  the 
Christian  Burgher  Rights,  and  informing  him  that 
he  had  heard  that  the  Gospel  was  making  great 
headway  in  England,  and  that  it  would  help  the 
truth  if  some  pious  and  learned  man  could  be  sent 
there  to  report.* 

On  November  i6th  there  was  held  in  Basel  a  Diet 
of  the  Evangelical  cities  and  the  compromise  formula 
of  Butzer's  upon  the  Lord's  Supper,  viz.,  that  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  are  really  in  the  Lord's 
Supper  to  the  spirit,  not  to  the  body,  was  agreed 
upon.  But  Zwingli,  who  was  absent,  refused  to 
accept  the  formula,  and  proposed!  "  We  confess 
that  the  Body  of  Christ  is  present  in  the  Sacred 
Supper  not  as  body  nor  in  the  nature  of  body,  but 
sacramentally  to  the  mind  that  is  upright,  pure,  and 


>  VIII.,  506.  2  VIII.,  40^ 

'IV.,  79-142.     The  work  is  dated  August  20,  1530.     It  is  to  be 

hoped  that  Zwingli  did  not  inflict  on  the  Landgrave  in  his  origin<il 

sermon  all  the  matter  he  sent  him. 
*VIII.,  534. 


Zwingli's  Political  Activity        335 

reverent  toward  God."  '  He  would  not  depart  from 
what  he  conceived  to  be  the  truth  for  Luther  or 
anybody  else.  Zwingli,  CEcolampadius,  Megander, 
and  Capito  also  united  in  a  statement  of  their  posi- 
tion, defending  the  above  formula."  So  Butzer's 
great  scheme  of  uniting  the  Protestant  host  went 
shipwreck. 

'VIII.,  549.  The  letter  is  dated  November  20th,  and  is  signed 
by  Heinrich  Engelhard,  Leo  Jud,  and  Zwingli,  the  last  being  named 
as  the  author. 

*  VIII.,  552. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE   LAST  YEAR   OF  ZWINGLl'S   LIFE 
153I 

ZWINGLI  was  now  the  accepted  head  of  the 
Reformed  Church.  He  stood  over  against 
Luther  as  a  great  Protestant  leader.  His  contem- 
poraries consulted  him  or  insulted  him  according  as 
their  sympathies  were  with  him  or  against  him.  In 
South  Germany  and  German  Switzerland  he  had  his 
hand  upon  every  religious  enterprise.  So  Zwingli's 
position  towards  the  Schmalkald  League  was  of 
general  importance.*  This  League  was  the  direct 
result  of  the  decision  of  the  Diet  of  Augsburg,  No- 
vember 19,  1530,  to  give  the  Protestants  until  April 
15,  1 53 1,  to  submit  to  the  Church,  otherwise  they 
would  be  proceeded  against  with  arms. 

This  was  considered  by  the  Protestants  as  intended 
to  force  them  to  make  a  fight  for  their  rights,  and 
accordingly  the  Lutheran  princes,  the  Landgrave 
of  Hesse,  and  others  met  on  December  22,  1530,  at 
Schmalkalden,  a  town  in  the  present  Prussian  pro- 


'  Zwingli  writes  of  the  meeting  at  Sclimalkaklen  on  January  3 
1531,  but  expresses  an  unfavourable  opinion  upon  it  (viii.,  570). 

336 


I53I]       Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life       337 

vince  of  Hesse-Nassau,  twenty  miles  south-west  of 
Gotha,  and  resolved  to  make  formal  protest  against 
the  decree  of  the  Diet  and  against  the  crowning  of 
Ferdinand  of  Austria  as  German  King,  and  to  stand 
by  one  another  in  case  any  of  them  was  attacked, 
just  as  they  had  met  in  the  previous  year  (November 
25,  1529)  in  the  same  place  to  protest  against  the 
decree  of  the  Diet  of  Spires.  As  neither  of  these 
protests  was  listened  to,  on  March  29,  1531,  the 
Protestants  joined  themselves  into  a  League.' 

In  this  combination  the  prime  mover  was  Zwing- 
li's advocate,  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  and  as  com- 
ponent parts  were  South  German  cities  in  which 
Zwingli's  doctrines  had  been  accepted.  It  was, 
therefore,    expected    that    the    Swiss    cities   would 


'  The  following  princes  and  cities  entered  into  this  League  :  John 
the  Elector  of  Saxony ;  Philip,  Ernest,  and  Francis,  Dukes  of  Bruns- 
wick-Luneburg  ;  Philip,  Landgrave  of  Hesse  ;  Wolfgang,  Prince  of 
Anhalt ;  Gebhard  and  Albert,  Counts  of  Mansfeld  ;  the  cities  of 
Strassburg,  Ulm,  Constance,  Reutlingen,  Memmingen,  Lindau, 
Biberach,  Isny,  Liibeck,  Magdeburg,  and  Bremen.  The  purposes 
of  the  League  were  thus  stated  : 

"  Whereas,  it  was  altogether  likely  that  those  who  had  the  pure 
Word  of  God  preached  in  their  territory  and  thereby  had  abolished 
many  abuses,  were  to  be  prevented  by  force  from  continuing  this 
service  so  pleasing  to  God  ;  and,  ivhereas,  it  was  the  duty  of  every 
Christian  government  not  only  to  have  the  Word  of  God  preached  to  its 
subjects,  but  also  as  far  as  possible  to  prevent  their  being  compelled 
to  fall  away  from  it,  they  [the  princes  and  the  cities  named  above], 
solely  for  the  sake  of  their  own  defence  and  deliverance,  which  both 
by  human  and  divine  right  was  permitted  to  every  one,  had  agreed 
that  whenever  any  one  of  them  was  attacked  on  account  of  the  Word 
of  God  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  or  anything  connected  there- 
with, all  of  the  others  would  immediately  come  to  his  assistance  as 
best  they  could  and  help  to  deliver  him." 


Z3^  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1531 

accept  the  invitation  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  com- 
ing thus  endorsed  by  so  many  of  their  friends,  and 
enter  into  this  League.  But  once  more  the  doctrine 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  an  obstacle  to  union.  The 
Elector  went  so  far  as  to  accept  the  Tetrapolitan 
creed  on  this  point.'  So  it  was  hoped  by  those  who 
wished  the  Swiss  cities  to  join  the  League,  that 
Zwingli  would  let  its  eucharistic  teaching  pass  with- 
out protest."  But  Zwingli  was  not  so  inclined,  any 
more  than  Luther  was.^     He  said: 

"  The  business  of  the  truth  is  not  to  be  deserted,  even 
to  the  sacrifice  of  our  lives.  For  we  live  not  for  this  age 
of  ours,  nor  for  the  princes,  but  for  the  Lord.  To  admit 
for  the  sake  of  the  princes  any  thing  that  will  diminish 
or  vitiate  the  truth  is  silly,  not  to  say  impious.  To  have 
held  fast  to  the  purpose  of  the  Lord  is  to  conquer  all 
adversaries."  * 

If  the  union  had  not  been  conditioned  upon  assent 
to  the  Tetrapolitan  statement  on  the  Eucharist  it 
might  have  been  effected.  But  this  was  the  rock 
upon  which  it  split.  A  conference  of  the  Swiss  Re- 
formed cities  was  held  at  Basel  on  February  13,  1531, 
to  decide  upon  their  action  respecting  the  League. 

'  This  was  the  compromise  stated  on  p.  334.  The  four  cities  were 
Strassburg,  Constance,  Memmingen,  and  Lindau.  See  Schaff, 
Creeds,  i.,  526-529. 

*  See  Capito's  letter  of  January  22,  1531  (viii.,  570-572),  and  the 
Landgrave's  of  January  25,  1531.  The  latter  took  a  business  view 
of  the  situation,  that  it  was  a  strife  over  words  and  not  over  facts 
(viii.,  575). 

*  See  Butzer's  letter  of  February  6th  (viii.,  576  sqq^. 

<viii.,  579. 


I53I]       Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life       339 

Zvvingli  was  not  present,  but  was  represented  by  Leo 
Jud.  His  opinion  that  it  would  be  a  sacrifice  of  the 
truth  to  accept  Butzer's  ambiguous  statement  was 
adopted  by  the  conference,  and  so  the  Swiss  Pro- 
testant cities  did  not  join  the  League.  Zwingli  had 
naturally  been  enthusiastic  for  such  union.  It 
seemed  the  fruition  of  his  long-cherished  hopes. 
But  he  would  not  surrender  his  interpretation  of  the 
facts  concerning  the  Lord's  Supper  for  any  consid- 
eration, and  Zurich  sustained  him.  Bern  inclined 
to  it,  alarmed  as  she  was  by  the  Duke  of  Savoy's 
attack  on  Geneva,  which  she  thought  inspired  by 
the  Emperor  and  therefore  ominous  of  her  own 
fate,  but  she  followed  Zurich's  lead. 

On  March  nth,  Zwingli  issued  his  translation  of 
Jeremiah  with  annotations,  and  dedicated  it  to  the 
city  of  Strassburg,  in  further  recognition  of  its  en- 
tering into  the  Christian  Burgher  Rights.' 

An  interesting  proof  of  the  extent  of  Zwingli's 
reputation  is  a  letter  written  to  him  from  Ghent  by 
John  Cousard,  who  signs  himself  in  Greek,  "  Bishop 
of  the  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life,"  lamenting 
that  Zwingli  wrote  so  much  in  German,  and  asking 
him  to  have  his  writings  in  that  language  translated 
into  Latin!*  Zwingli  replied  to  it  on  August  31, 
1 53 1,'  and  makes  these  remarks  upon  the  Apocry- 
pha:* 

'  VI.,  i.,  1-201.  Butzer  was  especially  pleased  with  his  dedication 
(viii.,  592). 

"  The  letter  is  dated  March  17,  1530,  but  Zwingli's  editors  follow 
Simler  in  thinking  it  rather  1531,  and  so  transfer  it  to  that  latter 
year  (viii.,  587-590)- 

»  VIII. ,639.  *  VIII.,  639. 


340  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1531 

"There  are  certain  considerations  which  you  adduce 
from  the  Apocryphal  Books.  These,  I  concede,  contain 
some  things  that  are  worth  reading ;  yet  they  never 
attain  to  that  measure  of  authority  that  the  Canonical 
Books  have.  They  are  more  diluted  and  feebler,  so  that 
they  appear  rather  as  imitations  of  the  former  Scriptures 
than  written  in  the  peculiar  fervour  of  the  fresh  spirit." 

Zwingli's  eagerness  to  enlarge  the  Christian 
Burgher  Rights  appeared  in  his  letter  to  Vadian 
of  April  5th: 

"  The  princes  who  are  on  the  side  of  the  Gospel  are  too 
far  away,  but  the  cities  of  the  Christian  Alliance  are  close 
together  and  consequently  admirably  situated  for  giving 
mutual  aid  and  counsel,  when  occasion  demands,  to 
whomsoever  they  should  take  into  friendship.  This  is 
what  I  am  trying  to  accomplish  not  only  this  year  but 
continually  ;  but  I  accomplish  little,  for  some  persons 
are  more  inert  than  is  right."  * 

A  more  immediate  danger  than  invasion  by  the 
Emperor  —  which  as  a  matter  of  fact  never  took 
place,  since  in  the  providence  of  God  he  was  di- 
verted, by  the  necessity  of  dealing  with  the  Turks, 
from  administering  that  stern  discipline  to  the  recal- 
citrant Protestant  states  which  he  contemplated  at 
Augsburg  —  was  civil  war  among  the  German  Can- 
tons of  Switzerland.  The  first  Cappel  war  had 
settled  nothing.  The  Five  Cantons  paid  on  Octo- 
ber 21,  1530,  the  war  cost,  as  they  were  obligated  by 
the  treaty  to  do,  but  they  never  lessened  an  iota 

'VIII.,  593. 


I53I]       Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life       341 

their  demand  to  be  free  to  regulate  their  internal 
affairs  as  they  pleased,  not  only  in  secular  but  in  re- 
ligious affairs.  They  complained  bitterly  in  the 
Diet  at  Baden  on  January  7,  1 531,  of  the  ill-treat- 
ment they  had  received,  especially  from  Zurich, 
which  had  confiscated  the  lands  of  the  abbey  of  St. 
Gall ;  and  all  the  time  they  were  planning  renewal 
of  the  alliance  with  Austria.  No  one  perceived 
more  clearly  than  Zwingli  that  war  was  inevitable, 
much  as  he  deprecated  it.  On  January  23,  1531,  he 
wrote:  "  We  do  not  wish  to  go  to  war  with  the 
Five  Cantons,  but  to  restore  the  lost  ones  to  our- 
selves, and  to  themselves,  believe  me."  '  On  Feb- 
ruary 13,  1531,  under  his  advice  and  in  his  words, 
Zurich  at  the  council  of  the  Evangelical  Cantons 
urged  her  associates  to  consider  whether  the  time 
were  not  favourable  to  an  attack  upon  the  Five  Can- 
tons, in  view  of  the  inability  of  the  Emperor  to  come 
to  their  assistance.  But  the  other  Evangelical  Can- 
tons were  not  ready  for  war.  On  March  7th,  Zwingli 
wrote:  "  The  madness  and  audacity  of  the  Five 
Cantons  not  even  the  lower  regions  could  endure."  ' 

Another  Federal  Diet  was  held  on  March  19th, 
and  Zurich  produced  her  list  of  complaints  against 
the  Five  Cantons  specifying  the  instances  wherein 
the  Evangelicals  had  been  persecuted.  The  Forest 
deputies  listened  with  undisguised  indifference,  for 
they  had  their  counterbalancing  grievances.  While 
these  unprofitable  recriminations  were  going  on, 
deputies  from  the  Orisons  appeared  appealing  for 
help  against  the  condottiere  Giovanni  Giacomo  de' 

'VIII.,  572.  « VIII.,  586. 


342  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1531 

Medici,'  whose  three  ruined  castles  of  Rocca  di 
Musso  look  down  upon  the  traveller  to-day  sailing 
on  Lake  Como,  as  he  approaches  Dongo,  near  the 
head  of  the  lake  on  the  western  bank.  There, 
from  1525  to  1 53 1,  he  resided  and  thence  held  sway 
over  the  entire  lake.  It  appeared  that  this  free- 
booter had  fallen  upon  a  Grisons  deputation  (Mar- 
tin Paul  and  son)  returning  home  from  Milan 
and  murdered  them  at  Reisigen.''  Simultaneously 
he  had  captured  Morbegno  (east  of  Como),  the  key 
to  the  Valtellina,  the  broad  valley  of  the  Adda, 
which  was  a  subject  land  of  the  Grisons ;  and  the  Gri- 
sonsese  could  not  dislodge  him,  hence  they  appealed 
to  the  confederates  for  help.^  The  Tyrant  of  Musso, 
as  he  was  called,  probably  acted  entirely  of  his  own 
motion  in  these  proceedings.  He  had  done  similar 
things  before  against  Grisonsese  and  Grisons  terri- 
tory. But  in  the  excited  state  of  the  Evangelicals, 
especially  in  Zurich  under  Zwingli,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  the  idea  found  currency,  that  be- 
cause the  Grisons  had  accepted  the  Reformation 
Musso  had  been  incited  to  act  as  he  had  done  by  the 
Emperor  and  been  furnished  troops  by  him;  in 
fact,  that  this  action  was  the  beginning  of  the  long- 
dreaded  imperial  invasion  of  Switzerland  to  suppress 

^  He  pretended  to  belong  to  the  famous  family  of  that  name,  but 
he  was  really  a  Medeghino.  He  was  a  Milanese  and  nominal  Cas- 
tellan of  Musso  as  subject  of  the  Duke  of  Milan,  but  in  reality  he 
was  entirely  independent. 

*  BuUinger,  ii.,  355. 

^  Butzer,  on  March  24th,  had  heard  of  the  troubles,  for  he  writes 
from  Strassburg  :  "May  God  assist  the  Rhneti "  (Grisonsese)  (viii., 
592). 


I53I]       Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life       343 

the  Reformation !  Consequently  the  appeal  of  the 
Grisonsese  produced  a  cleavage  in  the  Diet.  The 
Evangelicals  listened  to  it  and  responded  with  pro- 
mises of  help.  The  Forest  Cantons  declined,  and 
their  refusal  was  construed  as  showing  that  they 
had  some  sort  of  secret  understanding  with  the  Em- 
peror. That  they  rejoiced  over  the  misfortune  of 
the  Reformed  probably  was  true,  but  their  refusal 
was  natural  in  view  of  the  refusal  of  the  Grisons  to 
aid  them  in  1529  and  of  the  confessional  differences 
which  were  so  much  emphasised.  It  was,  however, 
another  of  the  unhappy  differences  which  issued 
quickly  in  civil  war. 

The  Protestant  Cantons  sent  eleven  thousand 
men  to  the  aid  of  the  Grisonsese.  The  Musso 
troops  were  driven  out  of  their  territory  ;  the  lord 
of  Musso  was  besieged  in  his  castle.  Then  the 
Duke  of  Milan  (Francesco  Sforza  II.)  in  May  took 
up  the  war  as  his  own  and  all  but  two  thousand  of  the 
Swiss  retired.  On  September  29,  1531,  the  Duke's 
legate,  Panizzone,  asked  Zurich  for  powder.'  The 
castle  was  in  the  next  year  taken  and  demolished. 

Zwingli,  in  writing  to  Vadian  on  April  5,  1531," 
thus  expresses  himself  upon  the  matter: 

"  How  much  circumspection  is  now  needed  we  see  who 
have  hitherto  been  blinder  than  moles,  when  great  armies 
are  sent  into  the  passes  of  the  Alps,  principally  because 
the  Emperor  with  all  his  councils  or  parliaments  defends 
not  a  robber  or  a  parricide,  but  a  violator  of  the  law  of 
nations.     For  even  if  this  man  had  been  his  own  brother 

>  VIII.,  646.  » VIII.,  593. 


344  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1531 

he  ought  to  have  given  him  up  after  so  infamous  and 
unheard-of  a  crime.  Will  posterity  ever  believe  that  the 
Ambassador  was  not  merely  intercepted  but  seized,  with 
his  son  and  the  horses  they  were  riding,  and  tortured 
and  mangled  as  by  the  hand  of  a  butcher?  And  so  this 
is  what  I  ask  of  you  ;  for  I  see  that  some  of  whom  this 
same  thing  has  been  asked  are  moving  too  slowly.  In 
any  way  you  can,  assemble  the  faithful  of  Lindau,  and 
through  them  those  of  Isny  and  Memmingen  also.  I 
mean  those  who  are  on  the  side  of  the  Gospel  and  in  the 
government,  and  are  such  that  they  may  be  trusted  with 
what  you  have  to  say  to  them.  Assemble  them  that  they 
may  look  after  the  interests  of  the  Gospel." ' 

Zwingli  was  clearly  of  the  opinion  that  one  of  two 
ways  should  be  adopted  to  bring  the  Forest  Can- 

'  The  pastor  at  Tallicon  gave  him  on  April  I2th  an  account  of  the 
military  expedition  (viii.,  594),  and  Comander  another  on  April  27th 
(viii.,  598),  from  which  latter  letter  it  appears  that  the  Forest  Can- 
tons afterwards  joined  in  the  attack  on  Musso.  Comander,  on  May 
31st,  says  :  "  The  robber  Musso  had  a  breathing  spell  when  we 
retired,  and  he  is  enrolling  soldiers  anew  "  (viii.,  607).  On  June  4th 
Zwingli  says  :  "  Our  men  have  returned  from  a  siege  of  Musso,  ex- 
cept 2000.  It  is  reported  that  to-day,  June  4th,  the  people  of  Musso 
made  a  rally  resulting  in  a  considerable  slaughter  on  both  sides,  i.  e., 
proportionally.  For  the  rest  there  were  few  in  the  citadel  and  those 
in  our  own  guard  were  fewer.  They  arose  in  a  certain  canton  and 
scattered  the  army  of  the  Duke.  Ours  is  safe,  with  the  exception 
of  the  loss  reported.  It  appears  that  the  Duke  of  Milan  is,  or  at 
least  his  followers  are,  acting  deceitfully.  The  Grisonsese  are  send- 
ing heavy  reinforcements  "  (viii.,  607).  On  June  22nd,  he  heard  very 
circumstantially  about  the  progress  of  the  war,  especially  in  com- 
mendation of  Stejihen  Zellar  (viii.,  613),  who,  on  July  4th,  him- 
self wrote,  imploring  Zwingli  to  refute  the  calumnies  which  had  been 
circulated  about  him  (viii.,  616).  On  July  5th  he  heard  again  (viii., 
622).  From  these  letters  it  appears  that  the  Crisonsese,  for  whose 
benefit  Zurich  meddled  in  the  war,  had  acted  badly. 


I53I]       Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life       345 

tons  to  terms,  either  to  invade  them  in  such  over- 
whelming force  as  would  defeat  them  out  of  hand, 
or  else  to  dissolve  the  Confederacy  '  and  make  a 
new  alliance  which  should  leave  them  out. 

In  view  of  the  dangers  evidently  impending, 
Zwingli  welcomed  any  aid  the  Protestant  Swiss 
could  get,  and  so  continued  or  renewed  correspond- 
ence with  Lambert  Maigret  and  Daugertin,  the 
legates  of  the  French  King  in  Switzerland,  and  with 
Panizzone,  the  legate  of  the  Duke  of  Milan."  On 
May  14th,  the  former  wrote  to  him  a  very  friendly 
letter,'  stating  that  the  French  King  had  sent  a 
nobleman  to  the  delegates  urging  them  to  do  all 
they  could  to  establish  a  lasting  peace  among  the 
Swiss  and  laying  great  stress  upon  its  desirability, 
indeed,  its  necessity.  They  were  urgent,  in  view  of 
the  convention  which  was  to  be  held  in  Zurich  on 
May  15th,  to  decide  upon  Zurich's  course. 

The  convention  was  held,  and  the  decision  was 
that  the  only  way  to  force  the  Forest  Cantons  to 
abolish  pensions  and  give  free  course  to  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Gospel  was  for  the  Protestant  Cantons  to 
declare  an  embargo  against  them  in  the  matter  of 
wheat,  wine,  salt,  iron,  and  steel.  All  these  art- 
icles the  Protestant  Cantons  were  to  refuse  to  sell  to 
the  Forest  Cantons,  so  long  as  the  latter  remained 
recalcitrant.     This  was  the  counsel  of  Bern  as  the 


'  Bullinger,  ii.,  368. 

'^  Cf.  letter  from  the  Duke,  dated  Milan,  September  17,  1531  (viii., 
645).  For  the  relations  between  Zwingli  and  Sforza,  see  the  letters 
in  Historischcr  Jahrbuch  der  italienschen  ScAzveiz,  xv.  (1893). 

3  VIII..  603. 


34^  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1531 

alternative  of  war  which  Zurich  favoured,  and  It 
was  strenuously  opposed  by  Zwingli  and  Zurich.' 
Zwingli,  in  his  sermon  the  Sunday  following  (May 
2 1st),  took  occasion  to  comment  upon  the  action  of 
the  convention,  which  he  read,  and  set  forth  how 
unjust  it  was  to  involve  the  innocent  with  the 
guilty.' 

But,,  though  contrary  to  Zurich's  judgment,  as 
the  convention  had  declared  for  the  embargo,  it  was 
administered  by  her  to  the  letter,  and  produced  the 
foretold  results  of  hatred  and  dread,  and  another 
result  not  foretold,  viz.  :  Zwingli  was  considered  the 
author  of  all  the  trouble,  both  by  the  Forest  Canton 
people  and  by  those  Zurichers  who  were  either  fav- 
ourable to  pensions  or  directly  affected  commercially 
by  the  embargo.  Zwingli  took  this  much  to  heart, 
and  perceiving  that  even  the  City  Council  had  in  it 
those  who  so  cruelly  misjudged  him,  he  appeared 
before  that  body  on  July  26th  and  asked  permission 
to  lay  down  his  office.  On  July  28th  he  alludes  to 
the  heavy  load  of  preaching  and  teaching  he  had 
been  so  long  carrying.'  This  permission  the  Coun- 
cil refused  and  prevailed  upon  him  on  July  29th  to 
withdraw  his  request.*  His  action  seemed  to  have 
had  a  tonic  effect  upon  the  Council,  which  hence- 
forth stood  firm  for  the  gospel." 

Meanwhile  ambassadors  from  the  French  King, 
Milan,  and  Nuremberg,  were  urging  upon  the 
Evangelicals  and  the  Forest  Cantons  the  necessity 

'  Bullinger,  ii.,  383. 

"  Ibid.,  388.  *  Bullinger,  iii.,  45. 

»  VIII.,  626-627.  'VIII.,  634. 


i53i]       Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life       347 

of  keeping  the  peace.     On  June  4th,  Zwingli  wrote 
to  his  friends  at  Ulm : 

"  The  ambassadors  of  the  French  King  are  with  us  for 
the  purpose  of  making  peace  among  the  Swiss.  The 
Five  Cantons  are  unwiUing  to  admit  the  preaching  of  the 
Word,  a  thing  which  the  ambassadors  have  demanded  of 
them.  For  when  the  Litter  first  arrived,  they  asked  the 
Council  to  show  them  the  way  in  which  peace  could  be 
had.  Whereupon  the  Council  replied  that  if  they  hoped 
that  the  Five  Cantons  would  suffer  the  Word  of  God  to  be 
preached  and  would  keep  this  condition  of  peace — not 
to  persecute  our  faith,  either  among  their  people  or  ours, 
we  would  suffer  the  matter  of  peace  and  friendship  to  be 
considered.  To  these  half-confidential  inquiries  of  the 
ambassadors  they  made  the  reply  I  have  given  above — 
that  they  would  not  suffer  the  preaching  of  the  Word  of 
God  as  we  understand  it,  etc.,  but  that  in  other  matters 
they  would  do  all  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
the  treaty  and  the  conditions."  ' 

On  July  25th,  he  was  informed  that  the  French 
King  was  seeking  to  unite  the  people  of  Coire  to 
himself.'  On  August  i6th,  Capito,  writing  from 
Strassburg,  urges  him  to  do  his  utmost  either  for 
settled  peace  or  open  war  with  the  Forest  Cantons.* 

Joined  to  the  direct  action  of  the  ambassadors 
were  the  efforts  of  the  delegates  of  the  cantons,  who 
met  six  successive  times  that  year  at  Bremgarten, 
some  ten  miles  west  of  Zurich,  to  hit  upon  some 
compromise  which  might  be  generally  acceptable/ 


'VIII.,  607.  '^  VIII.,  626.  ^YIU.,623. 

*  Concord  at  times  seemed  near.     C/.  viii.,  6il,  623. 


34^  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1531 

One  night,  while  these  negotiations  were  going  on, 
apparently  on  the  night  of  St.  Lawrence's  Day  (Au- 
gust loth),  Zwingli  secretly  came  to  Bremgarten 
and  conferred,  at  the  house  of  Bullinger,  with  the 
Bernese  delegates,'  and  urged  upon  them  the  neces- 
sity of  striking  a  telling  blow  at  the  Foresters,  lest 
by  the  dilly-dallying  tactics  the  enemy  became  too 
strong  for  them  to  overcome.  But  as  the  Evangel- 
icals insisted  upon  the  Forest  Cantons  giving  free 
course  to  their  preachers,  and  the  Forest  Cantons 
wanted  first  of  all  the  removal  of  the  embargo,  the 
negotiations  were  fruitless.  On  August  20th,  CEco- 
lampadius  despaired  of  keeping  peace,  and  wrote': 

About  concord  with  the  Five  Cantons,  some  have 
hope;  I  hope  I  am  mistaken,  but  I  fear  that  unless 
one  party  humiliates  itself  or  is  humiliated,  there  is 
practically  no  chance  of  it."  On  September  25th, 
Butzer  informed  Zwingli  that  if  peace  could  be  pre- 
served the  Christian  Burgher  Rights  would  be 
enlarged  by  several  towns  he  could  mention,  and 
added:  "  I  prefer  this  to  victory  over  the  Forest 
Cantons  unless  the  latter  were  a  bloodless  one."  ^ 

Calumnies  on  both  sides  fanned  the  flames  of 
mutual  distrust  among  the  Evangelicals  and  Cath- 
olics. One  of  these  calumnies,  and  a  particularly 
gross  one  against  himself,  Zwingli  vehemently  de- 
nounced in  a  letter,^  which,  however,  he  did  not 
send,  to  an  unnamed  and  personally  unknown  man 
in  Wallis  (Valais),  the  south-west  canton  of  Switzer- 
land, bordering  on  Savoy. 

'  Bullinger,  iii.,  48.  ^  Vm.,  646. 

«VIII.,  634.  " VIII.,  610,  611. 


I53I]       Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life       349 

A  letter  written  "  Wednesday  after  Ulrich's 
Day,"  /.  c,  July  5th,  tells  of  the  determination  of 
Schwyz  to  get  food  at  all  hazards,  by  force  of  arms 
if  necessary.  Food  was  scarce  all  over  Switzerland 
that  year,  which  made  the  embargo  all  the  severer 
for  the  Forest  Cantons.' 

But  Zwingli  had  some  other  things  to  contemplate 
than  the  approaching  civil  war.  His  good  friend 
CEcolampadius  wrote  him  on  July  20th,  from  Basel, 
that  the  book  of  Michael  Servetus  upon  the  "  Errors 
Respecting  the  Trinity,"  was  being  circulated  there, 
that  he  considered  it  thoroughly  blasphemous,  al- 
though some  of  the  Strassburgers  praised  it !  He 
offered  to  send  him  a  copy  if  he  had  not  seen  it." 

On  July  3 ist,- CEcolampadius  informed  him: 

"  We  have  remodelled  the  theological  lectures  after  the 
pattern  of  your  church.  A  Hebrew  professor  lectures 
on  the  Old  Testament  and  a  Greek  on  the  New,  I  my- 
self am  to  add  a  theological  exposition  in  Latin  on 
both  to  their  more  purely  grammatical  ones.  Paul  will 
conclude  with  a  discourse  in  the  vernacular."^ 

On  August  13th,  the  same  writes  a  most  interest- 
ing letter  upon  the  attempt  of  Henry  VHI.  to 
obtain  a  divorce  from  Catherine.^     The  King  had 


'  Cf.  viii.,  622. 

'VIII.,  625.  The  printer  was  Secerius  of  Hagenaii  in  Elsass ; 
the  publisher  was  Conrad  Kocnig  of  Jena,  Basel,  and  Strassburg, 
who  was  agent  for  Luther's  works  (Putnam,  Books  and  their  Makers 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  ii.,  231).  For  analysis  of  and  comments  on 
Servetus's  book,  see  Schafi,  /list.  Christ.  Ch.,  vii.,  715-720. 

3  VIII. ,629.  -^  VIII.,  631  j^. 


350  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1531 

sought  through  Grynaeus  the  advice  of  CEcolam- 
padius,  who  in  turn  consulted  Zwingli.  QEco- 
lampadius  considered  that  there  was  no  ground  for 
divorce.  Zwingli's  letter  in  reply  is  lost;  its  pur- 
port is  known  from  the  reply  of  CEcolampadius' ; 
he  was  adverse,  as  also  was  Grynaeus."  Capito  and 
Butzer  would  permit  Henry  to  have  two  wives!' 

Butzer  on  September  13th  informed  him  of 
the  results  of  the  meeting  at  Schmalkalden  and 
of  other  matters  in  the  gossipy  style  of  Capito." 
Two  characteristically  fervid  letters  from  the  im- 
petuous but  spiritual  and  energetic  Farel  reached 
Zwingli  that  year.*  They  must  have  cheered  his 
soul  greatly. 

As  the  year  wore  on  it  was  increasingly  plain  that 
war  was  inevitable,  and  Nature  seemed  to  Zwingli  to 
prophesy  disaster.  Zurich  was  again  visited  by  the 
plague,  though  not  in  severe  form.  Like  others  of 
his  time,  Zwingli  believed  in  signs  and  portents 
and  had  a  lingering  faith  in  astrology.  So  he  was 
greatly  disturbed  at  an  extraordinary  communica- 
tion from  Schenkenberg,  near  Brugg,  in  Aargau, 
some  seventeen  miles  north  by  west  of  Zurich,  writ- 
ten by  the  magistrate  of  the  village  and  dated  July 
29,  1 53 1,  to  the  efTect  that  on  July  24th  blood  had 
been   seen  issuing  in   a   stream    from    the    earth!* 

'VIII.,  634. 

''VIII.,  635  ;  cf.  for  Butzer,  viii.,  644. 
^  Melanchthon  also,  Co7-pns  J\ffor»iatorum,  ii.,  520. 
^VIII.,  643. 

*  VIII.,  647,  648.     They  are  the  last  letters  in  the  Zwingli  Cor- 
respondence. 
«VIII.,  628. 


I53I]       Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life       351 

Other  equally  circumstantial  reports  of  uncommon 
physical  phenomena  were :  that  at  Zug,  some  fifteen 
miles  south  of  Zurich,  on  Lake  Zug,  a  shield  had 
been  seen  in  the  air;  on  the  river  Reuss,  which  runs 
into  Lake  Zug,  shots  were  heard  at  night;  on  the 
Bruenig  Pass,  some  twenty-five  miles  south  of  Lu- 
zern,  flags  flew  in  the  heavens,  and  on  the  Lake  of 
Luzern  phantom  ships  sailed  filled  with  ghosts  in 
warriors'  garb.  At  Goostow,  in  the  county  of  Gron- 
ingen,  belonging  to  Zurich,  a  poor  peasant  woman, 
Beatrice  of  Marckelssheim,  bore  a  child  that  had 
two  heads  with  faces,  three  legs,  and  three  arms, 
but  only  one  body.  Two  of  the  arms  hung  from 
the  sides  as  usual,  but  the  third  came  out  of  the 
back  between  the  shoulders,  and  had  on  the  end 
two  hands  clasped.  Two  of  the  legs  were  also 
normal,  but  the  third  hung  from  behind  for  all 
the  world  like  a  tail!  One  of  the  heads  died  in 
the  birth,  the  other  lived  a  short  time  after  it.'  But 
still  more  alarming  was  the  comet,  of  which  ZwingH 
writes,  on  August  i6th:  **  Some  have  seen  a  comet 
here  in  Zurich  for  three  nights.  I  for  one  only, 
i.  e.,  August  15th;  what  we  shall  see  to-day,  the 
i6th,  I  don't  know."*  Bullinger  thus  relates  the 
incident: 

"  Upon  [St.]  Lawrence  [day,  Thursday,  August  lo, 
153 1],  appeared  at  sunset  a  right  fearful  comet  whose 
long  and  broad  tail  stretched  to  mid  heaven.  The  colour 
was  pale  yellow.  And  when  Zwingli  was  asked  what  it 
meant  by  George  Muller,  abbot  at  Wittengen,  as  stand- 

•  Bullinger,  iii.,  47.  *  VIII.,  634. 


352  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1531 

ing  in  the  churchyard  of  the  Great  Minster,  near  the 
Wettinger  House,  they  contemplated  it  together,  he  re- 
plied :  '  Dear  George,  it  will  cost  me  and  many  an  honest 
man  his  life,  and  truth  and  Church  will  yet  suffer  ;  still 
Christ  will  not  desert  us.'  " ' 

<As  really  nothing  had  been  done  to  avert  the 
war,  every  day,  of  course,  brought  it  nearer.  So  on 
September  9th  the  Zurich  Council  adopted  a  plan 
of  campaign,  and  appointed  Rudolph  Lavater,  a 
good  friend  of  ZwingH's  and  of  the  Reformation, 
leader  of  the  forces.  But  the  Council,  like  the  citi- 
zens generally,  were  not  eager  to  fight.  Many 
hoped  that  something  would  arise  to  prevent  hos- 
tilities; many  secretly  sympathised  with  the  Forest 
Cantons,  some  because  they  still  adhered  to  the  Old 
Faith,  and  some  because  they  considered  the  Forest- 
ers unjustly  handled,  or  because  of  business  inter- 
ests. Zwingli  had  only  the  gloomiest  forebodings, 
and  he  uttered  them  in  his  sermons.^  In  his  last 
letter  to  CEcolampadius  he  expressed  himself  as 
seeing  the  sword  drawn  and  prepared  to  do  the 
duty  of  a  faithful  watcher  upon  the  walls.  But 
he  had  no  expectation  of  victory. 

On  October  4th,  the  Forest  Cantons  assembled 
their  forces  at  Zug;  unopposed  they  moved  them 
to  the  very  borders  of  the  Zurich  canton ;  and  still 
the  Zurich  Council  made  no  move.' 

'  Bullinger,  iii.,  46. 

«C/.  Ibid.,  52. 

^  For  the  fight  at  Cappel  the  classical  monograph  is  Die  Schlacht 
von  Cappel,  iSJi-  Mil  zzvei  Planen  und  einem  Anhange  ungcdruck- 
ter  Qiiellen.  Von  Emil  Egli.  Zurich  :  Friedrich  Schultliess,  1S73. 
This  author  was  vicar  in  Cappel,  1870-71,  and  so  had  the  best  oppor- 


I53I]       Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life       353 

On  Monday,  October  9th,  the  Forest  Cantons' 
troops  crossed  the  border.  The  news  reached  Zu- 
rich, only  twelve  miles  away,  almost  due  north,  that 
evening.  The  Council  was  hastily  called,  the  wager 
of  battle  accepted,  George  Goldli  appointed  leader 
of  the  advance  guard,  and  orders  given  to  make  the 
start  the  next  morning.  Accordingly,  at  noon  on 
Tuesday,  October  loth,  a  little  band  left  the  city 
for  Cappel,  ten  miles  south.  As  it  moved  along  it 
received  accessions  from  the  villages  it  passed,  so 
that  when  it  reached  Cappel  that  evening  it  num- 
bered twelve  hundred  men.  The  artillery  arrived 
in  the  night.  The  general  call  to  arms  and  the  ap- 
peal for  help  from  their  allies  were  made  by  the 
Zurich  Council  that  afternoon.  It  was  early  on 
Wednesday,  October  iith,  before  the  main  army  of 
fifteen  hundred  men,  if  it  could  be  called  an  army, 
was  under  way.  Zwingli,  according  to  Swiss  cus- 
tom, as  chief  pastor,  bore  the  banner,  on  horseback. 
He  wore  a  helmet,  a  shirt  of  mail,  and  a  side  sword, 
such  as  every  prominent  man  in  that  time  carried, 
and  from  his  saddle  hung  a  hand-gun  —  the  weapon 
out  of  which  the  pistol  was  evolved.'  As  he  rode 
along   he   heard   mutterings,    "  He   ought   to   ride 

tunity  to  study  the  battle-field  and  the  battle,  which  he  did  with  all 
necessary  assistance.  He  became  tutor  in  the  University  of  Zurich  in 
18S0  ;  professor  extraordinary,  1S89  ;  and  a  little  later  full  professor 
of  Church  History.  He  edits  Zwingliana,  the  organ  of  Zwingli 
studies  (Zurich,  1897  sqq.).  I  have  followed  his  account  with  readings 
from  Bullinger,  the  best  contemporary  witness,  and  from  Staehelin. 
'  See  the  exhaustive  and  authoritative  study  of  Zwingli's  weapons 
by  H.  Zeller-Weidmuller  in  Zwingliana,  Zurich,  1899,  No.  2, 
pp.  105-108.     They  are  now,  except  the  shirt,  which  has  perished, 


354  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1531 

first,  for  he  brought  it  all  on!"  His  horse  had 
shied  when  he  first  attempted  to  mount,  and  this 
seemed  to  him  and  to  the  onlookers  a  bad  sign. 
He  never  expected  to  see  his  friends  again  in  this 
life. 

All  about  him  was  confusion.  He  had  urged  that 
the  start  should  not  be  made  till  the  full  comple- 
ment of  four  thousand  troops  was  secured,  but 
instead  it  was  made  with  fifteen  hundred.  There 
were  not  enough  horses  to  pull  the  cannon.  There 
was  no  discipline.  The  host  was  more  a  rabble 
than  an  army.  Lavater  was  the  leader  of  this  the 
main  body. 

When  it  came  up  it  found  the  advance  guard 
under  Goldli,  which  had  been  at  Cappel  since  Tues- 
day night,  already  in  the  presence  of  their  foes. 
Goldli  had  been  strictly  charged  by  the  Council  not 
to  take  the  offensive,  but  to  await  the  arrival  of  the 
reinforcements.  On  Wednesday  morning,  probably 
perceiving  that  the  enemy  were  about  to  attack  him, 
he  picked  out  a  place  to  give  battle.  The  ground  all 
about  Cappel  was  rolling,  but  the  high  ground  he 
chose  had  a  ditch  filled  with  water  behind  it,  much 
wood  around  it,  and  swampy  land  on  the  north, 
east,  and  south !  '  There  the  few  troops  he  had 
stood  while  the  enemy  advanced  upon  them. 

The  battle  began  at  midday.  The  Foresters  were 
well  ordered  and  well  led,  yet  the  first  onslaught 

preserved    in    the    New    Landesmuseum    in    Zurich.      The   sword 
measures  1.08  metres  in  length  ;    the  hand-gun,   86  centimetres — 
approximately  40  and  34  inches  respectively. 
'  See  the  plan  of  the  battle. 


ZWINGLI   DEPARTING  FOR  THE  BATTLE  OF  CAPPEL,  OCT.  11,  1531. 


I53I]       Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life       355 

was  repelled  by  the  Zurich  artillery.  Then  the 
enemy  shifted  their  ground  and  approached  from 
the  side.  As  they  were  toilsomely  crossing  the 
swamp,  dragging  their  cannon,  the  Zurichers  might 
have  struck  a  fatal  blow,  but  Goldli  refused  to  give 
the  order,  and  so  the  Foresters  by  3  P.M.  arrived 
safely  at  an  elevation  backed  by  a  piece  of  the  woods 
on  the  east  of  the  Zurichers,  which  was  vantage 
ground.  This  was  the  state  of  things  when  Lavater 
arrived  that  afternoon  on  the  hill  Albis,  whence  he 
could  survey  the  entire  field.  It  required  but  a 
glance  to  assure  him  that  the  situation  was  de- 
sperate, and,  tired  as  the  troops  were  after  their 
march,  he  yet  determined  to  go  to  the  assistance  of 
his  countrymen.     So  Zwingli  advised: 

"  If  we  wait  here  till  the  rest  come  up  in  their  leisurely- 
fashion,  then  I  apprehend  it  will  be  too  late  to  help  our 
countrymen.  We  must  not  stand  here  and  see  our  friends 
suffer  defeat.  I  go  to  them  and  am  prepared  either  to 
die  with  and  among  them  or  to  succour  them,  as  God 
pleases."  * 

Battle  was  resumed  late  in  the  afternoon  of  that 
day,  Wednesday,  October  1 1,  1531,  and  the  Zurichers 
were  attacked  on  east  and  south  at  the  same  time. 
Both  sides  hurled  opprobrious  epithets  against  one 
another.  "  Worshippers  of  idols  i  "  "  Godless  pa- 
pists !"    cried    the    one;   "  Sacrilegious  scamps  !" 

Damned  heretics  !  "  cried  those  on  the  other  side. 

Supported  by  their  artillery,  the  Zurichers  at  first 
held  their  own.     Lavater  encouraged  them  by  his 

'  BuUinger,  iii.,  123. 


35^  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1531 

presence  in  the  front  rank  and  his  pious  speech. 
Zwingli  stood  by  him,  although  he  took  no  part  in 
the  fighting,  and  was  heard  to  say:  "  Brave  fellows, 
take  heart  and  fear  nothing.  We  suffer,  if  we  must, 
in  a  good  cause.  Commend  yourselves  to  God, 
who  is  able  to  care  for  us  and  ours.  God's  will  be 
done! "  ' 

But  it  was  an  unequal  fight, —  eight  thousand 
Foresters,  desperate,  united,  well  armed,  against  two 
thousand  seven  hundred  Zurichers,  disordered  and 
ill  prepared,  and  the  majority  of  them  wearied  with 
their  long  march.  The  Zurichers  fought  heroically, 
and  sold  their  lives  dear,  but  after  a  time  the  fight 
became  a  rout,  and  the  road  to  Zurich  was  filled 
with  fugitives. 

And  Zwingli  was  among  the  slain !  Wounded 
twice  in  the  legs  by  a  spear  and  his  helmet  shivered, 
as  it  even  now  bears  witness,  by  a  stone,  he  had 
fallen  down.  One  of  the  Foresters,  out  plundering 
the  dead  and  wounded,  found  him  lying  on  his 
back,  his  hands  folded  as  in  prayer,  and  his  eyes 
directed  to  heaven.  In  kindly  fashion  he  offered  to 
call  a  priest  to  hear  his  dying  confession.  Unable 
to  speak,  Zwingli  shook  his  head.  The  Forester 
then  said:  "  If  you  cannot  speak  or  make  confes- 
sion, pray  in  your  heart  to  the  Mother  of  God,  and 
call  upon  the  saints,  that  God  in  His  grace  may  ac- 
cept you."  Zwingli  again  shook  his  head,  and 
continued  to  look  heavenwards.  This  action  marked 
him  as  a  Protestant.  Other  Foresters  had  mean- 
while come  up.     Among  them  was  a  captain  from 

'  Bullinger,  iii.,  127. 


Ck r^'ii  <^.) 


Zurichers. 


Scale  \  t :  c^r>000. 


en  Foresters. 


PLAN    OF    BATTLE   OF   CAPPEL. 

FROM    "DIE    SCHLACHT    VON    CAPPEL,"    BY    EMIL    EGLI.      ZURICH:    FREDRICK    SCHULTHESS. 


i53i]       Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life       357 

Untcrwald.  He  joined  the  others  in  revih'ng  the  then 
unrecognised  man  for  his  Reformed  faith,  and,  call- 
ing him  a  heretic,  who  did  not  deserve  to  live,  drew 
his  sword  and  gave  Zwingli  his  release  from  life.* 

So  in  the  midst  of  his  dead  friends  and  living  foes 
lay  the  body  of  the  man  who  had  brought  the  Re- 
formation into  German  Switzerland.  Zwingli  was 
unknown  by  face  to  the  men  who  saw  him  die.  But 
later  he  was  recognised,  and  then,  alas!  his  body 
was  treated  disgracefully,  for  his  name  was  to  each 
Forester  synonymous  with  all  that  in  religion  and 
politics  he  had  been  taught  to  hate. 

The  news  spread  through  the  host  that  Zwingli, 
the  arch  heretic,  the  author  of  all  the  misery  which 
had  come  upon  the  Forest  Cantons,  had  been  killed. 
The  next  morning,  Thursday,  October  I2th,  his 
body  was  gazed  upon  by  an  enormous  throng,  who 
reviled  him, — except  one  man,  Hans  Schonbrunner, 
an  old  priest  living  at  Zug,  but  formerly  a  canon  of 
the  Great  Minster,  and  colleague  of  Zwingli,  who  to 
his  immortal  honour  had  the  courage  to  say,  ad- 

'  Cf,  Bullinger,  iii.,  136.  According  to  tradition  Zwingli  died  be- 
neath a  pear  tree  which  stood  on  the  east  side  of  the  present  road 
upon  a  little  mound.  Its  successor  stands  there  to-day.  On  the 
alleged  place  of  his  dead  body  is  a  rough  stone,  fifteen  feet  high, 
set  up  in  1837.  On  the  front  is  this  inscription,  in  Latin;  "  Here 
Ulrich  Zwingli,  who  was  with  Martin  Luther  in  the  Sixteenth  Cent- 
ury after  the  birth  of  Christ,  the  founder  of  the  emancipated  Christ- 
ian Church,  died  in  the  sure  hope  of  immortality  on  the  lith  of 
October,  1531,  bravely  fighting,  even  against  his  brethren,  for  truth 
and  country."  On  the  back  is  this  German  inscription  :  "  'You  can 
kill  the  body,  but  you  cannot  kill  the  soul.'  So  said  on  this  spot 
Ulrich  Zwingli,  as  he  lay  dying  on  October  ii,  1531,  the  hero's 
death  for  truth  and  for  the  freedom  of  the  Christian  Church." 


35^  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1531 

dressing  Zwingli's  corpse:  "Whatever  your  re- 
ligious belief  was,  I  know  that  you  have  been  a 
good  Confederate.  May  God  forgive  your  sins!  "  * — 
but  this  declaration  had  no  effect  upon  the  rest. 
The  punishment  of  a  traitor  to  his  country  was 
meted  out  to  his  dead  body,  for  it  was  quartered 
by  the  hangman,  and  then,  as  the  punishment  of  a 
heretic  was  according  to  imperial  law,  its  sections 
were  mixed  with  dung  and  burnt.* 

The  battle  of  Cappel  was  for  the  Zurichers 
a  Flodden  Field, ^  for  probably  every  prominent 
Zurich  family  was  called  to  mourn  its  dead.  Among 
the  five  hundred  slain  —  eloquent  though  silent 
witnesses  to  the  brave  resistance  they  had  made 
and  the  desperate  attempt  at  any  cost  to  repel  the 
foe  —  were  seven  members  of  the  Small  and  nine- 
teen of  the  Great  Council,  and  almost  all  the  prin- 
cipal captains;  while  as  interested  spectators  at  the 
struggle  and  victims  of  it  were  seven  clergymen  of 
the  city  and  eighteen  of  the  canton  outside;  and 
the  roster  of  the  slain  included  Zwingli,  the  greatest 
of  them  all,  and  his  brother-in-law,  stepson,  and  son- 
in-law! 

The  Foresters  captured  a  great  quantity  of  arms, 

'  BuUinger,  iii.,  167. 

'  Egli,  p.  44.  His  heart  was  discovered  intact  and  brought  to 
Zurich  !     So  Myconius  relates,  in  Myconius,  p.  14. 

^  The  famous  battle  of  Flodden  Field  was  fought  between  James 
IV.,  the  King  of  Scotland,  and  the  Earl  of  Surrey  on  September  g, 
1513.  The  result  was  the  complete  defeat  of  the  Scotch.  It  was  the 
feature  that  among  the  slain  were  the  Scotch  King  and  so  many  of 
the  nobility  that  scarcely  a  noble  Scotch  family  but  had  one  dead 
upon  that  fateful  field,  which  particularly  makes  the  defeat  of  the 
Zurichers  at  Cappel  a  parallel. 


I53I]       Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life       359 

in  fact  nearly  all  the  Zurichers  had  brought  to  the 
field,  and  their  own  loss  was  small.  But  know- 
ing full  well  that  the  allies  of  Zurich  and  the 
reserves  would  be  too  much  for  them  if  they  vent- 
ured farther  into  Zurich  territory,  the  Foresters 
remained  on  the  field  of  Cappel -three  days  to  revel 
and  feast,  and  then  withdrew  to  Zug.  Thither  the 
allies  came  up  as  was  expected,  but  the  Foresters  on 
October  24th  attacked  them  successfully.  Magnan- 
imous counsels  prevailed,  and  instead  of  following 
up  their  advantage  the  Foresters  remembered  that 
the  allies  were  fellow  Swiss  and  concluded  with 
them  the  Second  Peace  of  Cappel  (November  20th). 
Naturally  this  second  peace  was  no  repetition  of  the 
first.  Now  the  men  of  the  Old  Faith  dictated  the 
terms  to  the  Evangelicals.  Zwingli's  dream  of  pro- 
pagating the  Gospel  in  the  Forest  Cantons  was  not 
realised.  Each  side  stayed  in  the  faith  it  had 
adopted  and  engaged  not  to  molest  the  other. 
Neither  side  was  to  make  the  religious  faith  of  the 
other  a  matter  of  reproach.  The  Christian  Burgher 
Rights  were  dissolved,  and  all  the  special  provisions 
of  the  First  Treaty  of  Cappel  were  abrogated.  Zu- 
rich had  to  return  her  share  in  the  war  cost  that 
the  Foresters  had  paid  the  allies,  and  to  redeem  in 
money  such  prisoners  as  had  not  been  exchanged. 

But  the  greatest  loss  by  the  Evangelical  German 
Swiss  was,  after  all,  not  in  money  or  territory,  but 
in  hope.  They  had  expected  to  impress  their  ideas 
upon  all  Switzerland.  After  the  defeat  of  October 
nth  they  lost  hope  of  doing  so.  Still,  what  they 
had    gained    was   substantially    held,   and    German 


360  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1531 

Switzerland  in  general  has  remained  to  this  day 
Reformed. 

Anna  Reinhard,  the  widow  of  the  Reformer, 
found  in  Heinrich  BulHnger,  the  successor  of 
Zwingli,  a  protector  and  friend.  He  took  her  and 
her  children  into  his  own  family  and  cared  for  her 
until  her  death  in  December,  1538,  after  a  few  weeks' 
illness.      He  also  educated  Zwingli's  children. 

William,  Zwingli's  eldest  son,  born  in  1526,  after 
studying  in  Zurich  went  to  Strassburg  to  complete 
his  education,  but  there  died  of  the  plague  in  1541. 
Ulrich,  born  January  6,  1528,  who  is  said  to  have 
been  the  image  of  his  father,  studied  at  Basel,  be- 
came a  clergyman,  diakoniis  in  the  Great  Minster  in 
Zurich  in  his  nineteenth  year,  professor  of  Hebrew 
in  1556,  of  theology  in  1557;  he  married  Bullinger's 
daughter  Anna.  She  died  of  the  plague  in  1565. 
Regula,  the  eldest  daughter,  born  in  1525,  who  is 
said  to  have  been  the  image  of  her  mother,  married 
on  August  3,  1 541,  when  in  her  seventeenth  year, 
Bullinger's  foster-son,  Rudolf  Gualther,  a  brilliant 
man,  born  in  Zurich,  November  9,  15 19;  studied  at 
Basel,  Strassburg,  Lausanne,  and  Marburg,  and  in 
1542  became  pastor  of  St.  Peter's  in  Zurich,  and  so 
remained  the  rest  of  his  life.  In  1547  he  brought 
out  the  first  edition  of  Zwingli's  works,  himself 
translating  into  Latin  all  the  hitherto  untranslated 
German  treatises.  He  succeeded  Bullinger  in  the 
office  of  chief  city  pastor  in  1575.  After  Regula 
died  of  the  plague  (November  14,  1565),  he  married 
Anna,  daughter  of  Thomas  Blarer,  formerly  burgo- 
master of  Constance.     Gualther  died  December  25, 


^lljl^iiiiiir^ 


ZWINQLI'S  DAUGHTER   REQULA  IN   1549,   AT  THE  AGE  OF  25,  AND  HIS 
GRANDDAUGHTER,  AT  THE  AGE  OF  7. 


I53I]       Last  Year  of  Zwingli's  Life       361 

1586.  With  Zwingli's  son  Ulrich  the  male  line  of 
the  Reformer  died  out.  Those  at  present  tracing 
their  ancestry  to  the  Reformer's  family  do  so  to  a 
brother  in  Wildhaus.  Zwingli  had  still  a  fourth 
child,  a  daughter  Anna,  born  in  1530,  who  died  in 
infancy.' 

Over  the  dead  Zwingli  adherents  of  the  old 
faith  and  Lutherans  poured  their  vitriol  of  hatred 
and  ignorance.''  Even  in  Zurich  there  were  many 
to  curse  him  as  responsible  for  their  sorrows.  His 
friends,  however,  there  and  in  the  canton  generally 
were  in  the  majority,  and  they  justified  his  actions 
and  defended  his  memory.  Outside  of  the  canton 
of  Zurich,  in  Bern,  Basel,  and  Southern  Germany, 
he  had  many  adherents  who  held  him  dear  and 
were  greatly  stirred  by  his  death.  But  even  these 
friends  did  not  continue  his  work.  None  of  them 
pushed  the  Reformation  further  on  his  lines,  and  in 
theology,  whether  they  had  not  fully  understood 
him,  or  had  been  forced  into  acquiescence,  but  not 
into  real  acceptance,  by  his  steady  glance,  at  all 
events,  with  few  exceptions,  they  rapidly  removed 
from  his  positions,  especially  regarding  the  sacra- 
ments. To-day  he  is,  even  in  Switzerland,  a  faint 
memory,  and  thousands  of  Protestants  outside  of 
Switzerland  do  not  even  know  his  name.     The  at- 


'  For  these  details  as  to  the  family  see  Solomon  Hess,  Anna  Rein- 
hard,  Gattin  iind  IVittwe  von  Ulrich  Zwingli  Reformator.  2nd  ed. 
Zurich,  1820.      See  his  index. 

'  See  the  judgments  upon  his  death  by  his  contemporaries  in  A. 
Erichson,  Zwingli's  Tod  und  desscn  Beurtheilung  durch  Zeitgenossen, 
Strassburg,  1883.  The  words  of  triumph  and  cursing  uttered  by 
Lutherans  and  others  were  shameful  and  almost  inhuman. 


362  Huldreich  Zwingli  [1531 

tention  he  has  received  from  students  is  compara- 
tively small.  There  are,  however,  signs  of  revival 
of  interest  in  the  able  and  lovable  stalwart  Swiss, 
sincere  Christian,  and  uncompromising  foe  to  sham 
in  religion.  The  explanation  of  this  neglect  lies 
at  hand.  Five  years  after  Zwingli  died  there  began 
at  Geneva  the  memorable  career  of  John  Calvin. 
To  him  and  not  to  Zwingli,  the  Reformed  Church 
now  looks  in  reverence.  From  him  and  not  from  the 
earlier  founder  that  Church  now  dates  its  existence. 
No  one  can  fail  to  acknowledge  that  Calvin  was  the 
greater  man,  but  Zwingli  was  also  highly  endowed, 
an  equally  devoted  servant  of  truth,  and  a  more  at- 
tractive personality.  All  honour  to  Calvin,  the  hero 
of  the  Faith,  but  all  honour,  too,  to  Zwingli,  the  Re- 
former of  German  Switzerland. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTER 

ZWINGLI'S  THEOLOGY,  PHILOSOPHY 
AND  ETHICS 

By  frank  HUGH  FOSTER,  Ph.D.,  D.D., 

Professor  of  Theology,  Pacific  Theological  Seminary, 
Oakland,  California 


363 


ZWINGLI'S  THEOLOGY,  PHILOSO- 
PHY, AND   ETHICS 

By  Frank  Hugh  Foster,  Ph.D.,  D.D.,   Professor  of  Theology, 
Pacific  Theological  Seminary,  Oakland,  California 

1'^HE  Protestant  Reformation  rendered  two  sepa- 
rate and  great  services  in  the  realm  of  thought 
to  its  age  and  to  the  world.  One  of  these  was  in 
the  protest  which  it  delivered  against  the  Roman 
doctrinal  system;  and  the  other  was  in  its  positive 
contribution  to  the  enrichment  and  development  of 
Christian  theology.  The  Roman  idea  of  human 
merit  and  its  relation  to  salvation  had  led  to  a  con- 
ception of  grace,  of  the  operation  of  the  sacraments, 
of  the  atonement  and  the  divine  forgiveness,  to  a  sys- 
tem of  morals,  and  to  methods  of  discipline,  which 
the  adherents  of  the  Protestant  faith  declared  must 
be  swept  away,  with  all  their  practical  consequences 
in  the  conception  and  the  conduct  of  life,  and  in 
their  stead  new  conceptions  must  be  introduced. 
But  the  system  of  thought  was  even  then  defective. 
It  was  not  up  to  the  level  of  Christian  experience. 
It  had  to  be  enlarged  and  perfected.  A  new  doc- 
trine, justification  by  faith,  had  to  be  adjusted  to 
the  old,  and  to  be  supplemented   by  a  group  of 

365 


366  Huldreich  Zwingli 

other  new  doctrines  which  should  first  bring  the  sys- 
tem into  some  degree  of  completeness.  This  work 
Protestantism  also  undertook,  and  under  its  able 
leaders  in  Wittenberg  it  gave  to  the  Christian  world 
the  first  system  of  Christian  dogmatics  which  could 
claim  to  have  treated  the  doctrines  of  grace  with 
anything  like  the  necessary  fulness,  and  to  have 
welded  them  into  a  consistent  whole  with  the  herit- 
age which  had  come  down  from  the  ancient  and  un- 
corrupted  Church. 

To  obtain  a  complete  view  of  Zwingli's  theology, 
both  of  these  elements  in  the  general  work  of  Pro- 
testantism must  be  brought  into  the  consideration, 
for  they  are  both  represented  in  his  labours.  With 
the  rest  of  the  Reformers  he  was  led  to  those  gen- 
eral positions  in  respect  to  the  sole  mediatorship  of 
Jesus  Christ,  salvation  by  faith  in  Him,  the  helpless- 
ness of  man  as  a  sinner,  and  the  authority  of  the 
Christian  congregation  in  distinction  from  the  pa- 
pacy, which  constituted  the  more  direct  recoil  from 
Rome.  In  all  these  doctrines  Zwingli  showed 
marked  independence  of  view,  vigour,  and  original- 
ity, but  in  none  of  them  did  he  render  any  service 
that  could  be  called  especially  his  own,  or  bring  out 
anything  which  belongs  properly  to  his  contributions 
to  the  system  of  developed  Protestant  doctrine. 
For  our  present  purpose  our  theme,  therefore,  ad- 
mits of  a  limitation.  We  do  not  need  to  pass  in 
review  every  doctrine  which  Zwingli  held,  not  even 
every  one  which  he  wrought  out  independently,  and 
which  in  another  environment  would  have  to  be 
reckoned  to  his  most  marked  service.     He  was  as 


Zwingli's  Theology  367 

clear  as  Luther  upon  the  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith,  and  entirely  independent  in  his  method 
of  approach  to  it  and  in  his  manner  of  holding  it. 
But  as  historians  we  must  ascribe  that  doctrine  to 
Luther  and  not  to  Zvvingli.  Luther  alone  gave  it 
to  the  world  and  made  it  the  rallying  cry  of  the 
mighty  movement.  But  Zwingli  had  his  own  pe-j 
culiar  field,  and  to  this  we  must  give  more  especial 
attention. 

A  word  needs  to  be  said  as  to  the  underlying 
philosophy  of  Zwingli  before  we  enter  upon  the 
direct  consideration  of  that  which  is  more  distinct- 
ively theological.  He  brought  with  him  to  the 
construction  of  his  theology,  from  the  formative  and 
educational  period  of  his  life,  two  great  currents  of 
influence,  the  one  having  its  origin  in  the  enthusiasm 
for  liberal  culture  nourished  by  the  period  of  the 
Renaissance,  and  the  other  springing  from  the  fount- 
ain of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures.  The  latter 
made  his  theology  biblical  and  Protestant ;  the  former 
gave  to  it  its  liberal  tone.  Many  individual  ideas 
may  be  traced  to  a  classic  origin  which  might  be  de- 
nominated not  improperly  philosophical.  Zwingli 
was  not  without  something  which  may  be  styled  a 
philosophy  of  a  very  great  type.  But  it  cannot  be 
said  that  his  system  was  dominated  by  the  philo- 
sophy of  the  ancient  or  even  of  the  mediseval  schools. 
He  followed  a  distinct  trend  of  thought  upon  the 
themes  embraced  within  the  scope  of  philosophy, 
but  it  is  a  trend  developed  in  the  Christian  Church 
and  distinctly  belonging  to  theology.  It  has  its 
roots  in  the  Hebrew  religion.     It  was  held  by  those 


368  Huldreich  Zwingli 

writers  in  the  Old  Testament  who  attributed  all 
agency,  even  that  producing  evil,  to  God.  Among 
Christian  theologians,  the  first  to  express  it  with  so 
great  emphasis  as  to  associate  his  own  name  with 
it  was  Augustine.  Augustinianism  has  been  a 
synonym  for  stress  laid  upon  the  sovereignty  of 
God.  It  was  Augustine's  favourite  thought  that 
"  everything  good  was  either  God  or  from  God." 
The  same  tendency  had  its  representatives  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  among  them  was  Thomas  Aquinas. 
It  reappeared  in  the  Reformation  in  Luther's  doc- 
trine of  predestination  and  of  the  bondage  of  the 
will,  in  which,  for  a  purely  religious  reason,  Luther 
affirms  in  the  strongest  way  the  absolute  and  sole 
causality  of  God.  In  the  year  1520,  long  before  the 
controversy  with  Erasmus  had  given  occasion  to  a 
flow  of  feeling  which  may  seem  to  have  been  un- 
favourable to  impartial  thought,  he  wrote:  "  I 
would  that  the  word  '  free-will  '  had  never  been  in- 
vented ;  neither  is  it  in  the  Scripture,  and  might 
better  be  called  self-will,  which  is  of  no  use."  ' 
Later  he  derives  the  sole  causality  of  God  from  His 
omnipotence,  and  rejoices  in  it  as  in  the  ground  of  the 
Christian's  confidence  in  God,  since  God  thus  fore- 
knows everything,  and  hence  proposes  and  performs 
everything,  He  can  therefore  never  be  defeated. 
"  By  this  thunderbolt,"  he  says,  "  is  cast  down  and 
ground  to  powder  the  freedom  of  the  will."* 
Luther's  doctrine  was  far  more  the  result  of  his 
general  point  of  view  and  of  his  impressions  as  to 

'  IVerke,  Erlangen  edition,  xxiv.,  146. 
^  De  Servo  Arbitrio,  cap.  xvii. 


Zwingli's  Theology  369 

the  necessary  foundation  of  the  doctrines  of  grace, 
than  of  any  philosophical  opinions  he  held.  The 
same  is  true  of  Calvin,  whose  position  is  too  well 
known  to  require  even  a  mention  here.  Zwingli 
shared  the  same  atmosphere  with  these  other  Re- 
formers, was  moved  by  the  same  great  spiritual 
opposition  to  Rome,  which  had  practically,  if  not 
confessedly,  taken  the  opposing  view,  and  hence  it 
was  natural  that  he  should  revert  to  Augustinianism, 
as  they  did.  And  thus  we  find  him,  for  the  most 
part  from  purely  theological  interests,  upon  the  side 
of  that  philosophical  doctrine  which  exalts  the 
sovereignty  of  God. 

It  would,  therefore,  be  of  little  value  if  we  sought 
to  trace  the  system  of  Zwingli  to  any  distinct  philo- 
sophical root.  What  biblical  elements  there  are  in  it 
will  best  appear  if  we  simply  follow  in  the  natural  line 
of  exposition  as  his  system  is  presented  in  his  prin- 
cipal dogmatic  writings.  Of  these  there  is  an  inter- 
esting series  brought  out  by  the  special  exigencies 
of  Zwingli's  public  life.     We  need  consider  only  his 

Sixty-Seven  Articles,"  with  the  "  Explanation  " 
of  the  same,'  the  "  Christian  Introduction  "  "  (all  of 
the  year  1523),  the  "  Commentary  on  True  and 
False  Religion  "  '  (1525),  the  confession  of  faith  pre- 
sented to  the  Diet  of  Augsburg  (1530)  and  entitled 
Ratio  Fidei,*  the  treatise  upon  "  Divine  Provid- 
ence"  (1530),^  and  his  last  important  production, 
published  posthumously,  the  "  Explanation  of  the 

1  Zwingli,   IVerke,  ed.  Schuler  u.  Schulthess,  i.,  169-424. 
"^  Jliid.,  i.,  541-565.  *  Ibid.,  iv.,  1-18. 

^ Ibid.,  iii.,  145-325.  ''Ibid.,  iv.,  79-144. 

24 


370  Huldreich  Zwingli 

Christian  Faith"  (1531).'  The  earlier  of  these  are 
of  great  historical  interest,  and  the  last  is  not  without 
dogmatic  importance;  but  the  central  member  of 
the  group,  the  elaborate  and  comprehensive  "  Com- 
mentary," written  after  his  views  had  attained 
maturity  and  consistency,  must  ever  remain  the 
chief  source  of  information  as  to  his  theological 
system,  and  will  be  the  best  starting-point  in  our 
exposition. 

This  work  opens  with  a  definition  of  religion  as 
the  system  which  comprises  the  whole  of  Christian 
piety,  viz.,  its  faith,  life,  rites,  laws,  and  sacraments. 
As  such,  it  is  fundamentally  a  relation  existing  be- 
tween God  and  man,  and  hence,  to  understand  it, 
the  terms  between  which  it  exists  must  be  under- 
stood first.  Hence  the  treatise  begins  with  the  doc- 
trine of  God.  We  thus  meet  the  first  and  most 
important  peculiarity  of  the  Zwinglian  system,  the 
prominence  given  to  the  doctrine  of  God,  at  the 
outset  of  our  study.  It  is  now  to  be  noted  that  it 
flows  naturally  out  of  his  conception  of  religion, 
and  that  he  could  scarcely  begin  at  any  other  great 
doctrine,  having  once  defined  religion  as  he  does. 
The  Lutheran  theology  was  anthropological  in  its 
starting-point,  and  was  determined  largely  by  this 
element,  in  spite  of  the  emphasis  laid  upon  the 
divine  causality  by  Luther,  because  its  absorption 
in  the  spiritual  experience  which  gave  it  its  birth 
kept  the  eye  fixed  upon  man  rather  than  upon  God. 

Zwingli  opens  the  discussion  of  the  doctrine  of 
God  by  considering  His  knowability.     Although  it 

'  Zwingli,   IVerke,  ed.  Schuler  u.  Schulthess,  iv.,  42-78. 


Zwingli's  Theology  371 

may  be  above  human  understanding  to  know  tvliat 
God  is,  it  is  not  above  it  to  know  tJiat  He  is.  Hence, 
the  knowledge  of  God's  existence  is  obtained  from 
the  h'ght  of  nature;  and  nature  is  itself  defined,  in 
accordance  with  the  tendency  to*  exalt  God  which 
we  are  now  noting,  as  "the  continual  and  perpet- 
ual operation  of  God  and  His  disposition  of  all 
things."  '  Thus  the  heathen  have  known  the  exist- 
ence of  God  and  some  even  His  unity,  though  these 
have  been  few.  But  believers  advance  far  beyond 
this.  They  are  such  as  not  only  know  that  there  is 
one  only  omnipotent  and  true  God,  but  have  more 
than  a  mere  knowledge,  since  they  trust  in  Him 
alone.  They  thus  know  in  some  measure  what  He 
is,  but  not  from  the  unaided  operation  of  their  own 
faculties  or  from  any  merely  human  instruction 
which  they  may  receive.  The  Scriptures  testify 
that  God  is  a  hidden  God,  and  that  only  the  Spirit 
of  God  possesses  knowledge  of  Him  so  as  to  become 
the  source  of  knowledge  to  human  hearts.  Hence 
it  is  deception  and  false  religion  to  pretend  to  derive 
the  knowledge  of  God  from  philosophy.  It  is  pro- 
duced by  the  power  and  grace  of  Him  in  whom  be- 
lievers trust.  The  only  source  of  the  knowledge  of 
God,  in  the  full  and  Christian  sense  of  such  a  word, 
is,  therefore,  the  "mouth  of  God,"  by  which  term 
Zwingli  designates  the  Bible,  illuminated  to  the 
reader  by  the  Spirit  in  his  heart. 

Upon  such  a  basis,  the  discussion  of  the  nature 
of  God  must  be  a  purely  biblical  discussion,  and 
Zwingli  begins  his  treatment  of  this  point  with  a 

'Zwingli,   Werke,  ed.  Schuler  u.  Schulthess,  iii.,  156. 


372  Huldreich  Zwingli 

study  of  Exodus  iii.,  14:  "  I  am  that  I  am."  This 
is  interpreted  to  mean  that  God  is  "  the  sole  essence 
of  all  things  "  {solum  reriini  omnium  Esse)?  The 
word  "  essence  "  is  here  to  be  understood,  appar- 
ently, as  signifying  the  true  being,  the  fundamental 
and  ultimate  reality  of  all  things.  Zwingli  does  not 
intend  to  identify  God  with  nature  in  the  pantheistic 
fashion,  or  to  anticipate  later  idealism  in  what  men 
have  often  attributed  to  it, — the  denial  of  the  exist- 
ence of  matter;  but  it  is  his  design  rather  to  refer 
nature  entirely  to  God  as  its  living  energy.  Thus 
he  declares  this  to  be  "  first  in  the  knowledge  of 
God,  that  we  should  know  that  He  is,  who  is  nature, 
who  is  Himself,  and  receives  His  existence  from  no 
one  else."  " 

But  now  God  not  only  is  and  is  independent  of 
all  other  existence,  but  He  has  a  determinate  and 
definite  existence.  "  That  being  is  as  really  good 
as  He  is  being.  "^  Zwingli  thus  passes  from  the 
nature  to  the  attributes  of  God,  at  the  summit  of 
which,  as  the  comprehensive  expression  of  them  all, 
he  puts  goodness.  This  very  comprehensiveness  of 
goodness  will,  however,  be  seen  somewhat  to  modify 
its  meaning.  The  proof  of  the  goodness  of  God  is 
drawn  from  the  world  which  He  has  made.  If  this 
be  "  good,"  as  the  Scriptures  declare,  then  the 
source  of  the  world  must  Himself  be  good,  and  that 
of  Himself,  since  the  source  of  His  goodness,  truth, 
righteousness,  justice,  and  holiness  must  be  the  same 
as  the  source  of  his  being,  viz.,  His  own  infinite  self. 

'Zwingli,   Werke,  ed.  Schuler  u,  Schulthess,  iii.,  p.  15S. 
^  Ibid.,  p.  159.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  159. 


Zwingli's  Theology  Z7Z 

We  are  not,  however,  to  think  of  the  goodness  of 
God  as  of  some  passive  and  inactive  quality.  His 
very  nature,  as  the  philosophers  say,  involves  His 
constant  activity,  since  He  is  the  perfect,  efficacious, 
and  consummating  force.  Hence,  He  speaks  and 
creation  comes  into  existence.  It  is  thus  the  pro- 
duct of  His  power;  but  it  is  also  permeated  by  His 
other  attributes.  His  wisdom,  knowledge,  and 
providence  must  so  pervade  all  things  that  there 
shall  be  nothing  that  is  hidden  from  Him  or  that 
fails  to  obey  Him.  The  proof  of  this  statement 
Zwingli  draws  from  the  general  idea  of  His  goodness 
{J)oniivi),  which  is  thus  shown  to  embrace  more  than 
merely  moral  goodness.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  synonym 
in  his  mind  for  perfection,  embracing  all  good, 
natural  as  well  as  moral.  The  argument  might  be 
summarised  thus:  God  is  the  sum  of  all  excellence; 
therefore  He  has  this  excellence,  viz.,  wisdom. 

It  may  serve  to  bring  out  more  clearly  the  force 
of  this  argumentation,  as  well  as  to  give  a  view  of 
Zwingli's  theological  style,  if  we  pause  here  in  our 
analysis  for  a  longer  quotation.     Says  Zwingli*: 

"This  Good  is,  therefore,  no  idle  or  inactive  thing, 
to  He  supine  and  unmoved,  neither  moving  itself  nor 
other  things,  for,  a  little  above,  it  was  evident  that  it  is 
the  essence  and  conservation  of  all  things,  which  is 
nothing  else  than  that  all  things  are  moved,  contained, 
and  live  through  it  and  in  it.  It  itself  is  called  by  the 
philosophers  ivTEkkx^ia  xai  evipyaia,  i.  e.,  perfect, 
efficacious,  and  consummating  power,  which,  since  it  is 


•Zwingli,   IVerke,  ed.  Schuler  u.  Schulthess,  iii.,  pp.  159  •s'^. 


374  Huldreich  Zwingli 

perfect,  never  shall  desist,  never  cease,  never  waver,  but 
continually  preserve  all  things,  turn  them,  rule  them, 
that  in  all  things  and  actions  no  fault  may  be  able  to 
intervene  to  impede  His  power  or  to  defeat  His  counsel. 
Which,  again,  is  manifest  by  His  own  word.  For  thus 
you  have  it  in  the  beginning  of  the  creation.  And  God 
said,  Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light.  See  how 
the  light  when  summoned  does  not  only  immediately 
present  itself,  but,  that  it  may  obey  the  command  of  its 
creator,  is  made  of  nothing.  For  so  great  is  His  power 
that  when  He  calls  things  which  are  not,  they  appear, 
exactly  as  those  things  which  are,  even  if  they  must  first 
be  born  of  nothing.  .  .  .  Since,  therefore,  all  things 
which  either  move  or  live,  so  live  and  move  as  they  are 
(for,  unless  they  were,  they  could  not  move  or  live  ;  but 
what  they  are,  they  are  in  God  and  through  God)  ;  it 
may  be  thence  inferred  most  clearly  that  God,  as  He  is 
the  being  and  the  preservation  of  all  things,  is  also  the 
life  and  movement  of  all  things  which  live  and  move. 
.  .  .  Nor,  again,  is  He  the  life  and  movement  of  all 
things  in  such  a  way  that  either  He  himself  should  purpose- 
lessly inspire  or  move  them,  or  that  those  things  which  are 
inspired  or  moved,  should  purposelessly  seek  of  Him  that 
they  may  live  and  move.  How  should  they  seek  this  of 
Him,  which  could  not  even  be,  except  they  were  of  Him, 
or  how  could  they  seek  before  they  were  ?  It  follows  that 
God  is  not  only,  like  a  kind  of  material,  that  from  which 
all  things  are,  by  which  all  things  are  moved  and  live  ; 
but  he  is,  at  the  same  time,  such  wisdom,  knowledge,  and 
providence,  that  nothing  is  hidden,  unknown,  remote, 
and  disobedient  to  it." 

'To  resume  the  course  of  our  analysis,  Zwingli  de- 
rives all  other  excellences  in  God  from  His  supreme 


Zwingli's  Theology  375 

excellence  as  the  highest  being,  "  That  only  is  God 
which  is  perfect,  that  is,  absolute,'  and  to  which  no- 
thing is  lacking,  to  which  also  all  things  are  present 
which  befit  the  highest  good."*  Among  these 
attributes  are  God's  foreknowledge  and  His  provid- 
ence, "upon  which  topic  the  whole  matter  of  free- 
will and  merit  depends."  ' 

Zwingli  now  advances  to  the  proof  of  the  bene- 
volence and  mercy  of  God  by  the  following  course 
of  reasoning: 

"  Now,  it  were  vain,  fruitless,  tind  useless  to  mortals  if 
this  highest  Good,  God,  were  wise  for  Himself  alone,  as 
is  said,  if  He  were  goodness,  life,  motion,  knowledge, 
providence  for  Himself  alone  ;  for  thus  He  would  differ 
in  no  respect  from  mortals,  who  have  this  by  their  own 
nature,  that  they  sing  for  themselves,  care  for  their  own 
things,  prefer  themselves  to  others.  It  is  necessary, 
therefore,  that  this  highest  Good,  which  is  God,  should 
be  by  its  own.  nature  kind  and  bountiful,  not  with  that 
bounty  with  which  we  wish  ourselves  to  seem  to  have 
given,  sometimes  considering  reward,  sometimes  glory, 
but  with  that  by  which  He  wishes  to  benefit  those  to 
whom  He  has  given,  and  considers  this  solely  and  alone, 
that  those  things  which  have  been  done  by  Himself  may 
be  theirs ;  for  He  will  be  freely  drawn  upon.  For,  as 
He  is  the  fountain  of  all  things  (for  no  one  merited, 

^  Hoc  solum  detis  est  quod  perfectum  est,  id  est,  absoliitum  et  cui 
nihil  desit,  cuique  omnia  adsint  qua  summutu  bonum  deceant.  It, 
would  be  an  error  to  suppose  these  expressions  to  have  anything  in 
common  with  modern  ideas  of  the  "  Absolute  "  so  much  favoured  in 
our  own  country.  "Absolute"  means  to  Zwingli,  as  this  context 
shows,  simply  "complete,"  "perfect."  * 

"  P.  160.  5  P.  163, 


Z7^  Huldreich  Zwingli 

before  He  was,  that  he  should  be  generated  of  Him),  so 
He  is  perennially  bountiful  towards  those  whom  He 
begot  to  this  one  end,  that  they  should  enjoy  His  bounty. 
In  a  word,  this  is  the  respect  in  which  that  Good  differs 
from  all  other  things  which  are  called  good  :  these  do 
not  expend  themselves  ajxiffdaoTi,  that  is,  gratuitously, 
since  they  are  squalid  and  needy  ;  that,  on  the  contrary, 
neither  will  nor  can  be  expended  except  gratuitously. 
Again,  those  things  which  are  good  in  appearance  spare 
themselves,  for  they  can  satisfy  very  few,  since  they  are 
limited  and  mean.  But  that  Good  so  abounds  that  it 
surpasses  all  the  desires  of  all  to  satiety  ;  for  it  is  infinite 
and  loves  to  be  drawn  upon.  It  cannot  itself  enjoy  other 
things,  for  they  are  inferior  to  it,  and  except  they  enjoy 
it,  from  which  they  are,  they  cannot  exist  at  all."  ' 

This,  in  outline,  is  his  doctrine  of  God.  Passing 
now  to  the  doctrine  of  man, — the  other  term  of  the 
relation  which  religion  was  defined  to  be, — we  meet 
with  distinct  agreement  with  Augustine,  but  still 
with  marked  individuality  of  conception.  Man  was 
originally  formed  in  the  image  of  God.  He  was 
forbidden  to  eat  of  a  specified  tree.  Tempted  of  the 
devil  through  his  wife,  he  consented  and  ate,  and 
thereby  fell,  and,  in  accordance  with  the  threat  of 
the  law,  he  died.  So  far  the  narrative  is  one  of  plain 
facts.  In  what,  now,  did  this  "  death  "  consist  ? 
It  was  not  a  death  of  the  body,  for  Adam  did  not 
die  immediately  as  the  law  threatened ;  and  yet  his 
ultimate  physical  death  was  for  no  other  reason  than 
for  his  transgression  of  the  law  at  this  time.  But  he 
died  in  some  sense  as  soon  as  he  ate.     The  death 

•  r.  163. 


Zwingli's  Theology  377 

meant  by  the  threatening  of  the  law  must  therefore 
have  been  a  death  of  the  soul,  not  of  the  body. 
What  death  was  it  ?  Zwingli  collects  the  answer 
from  Romans  v.,  12.  The  death  of  the  soul  suffered 
at  this  time  was  sin. 

Hence  Zwingli  comes  next  to  discuss  the  topic  of 
sin.  Men  are  led  into  sin  by  desire.  We  have 
therefore  to  inquire  what  desire  influenced  Adam 
when  he  fell.  It  was  the  desire  to  be  equal  with 
God  and  to  know  good  and  evil  by  his  own  power. 
Evidently  this  desire  had  its  origin  in  self-love. 
This,  then,  is  the  root  and  characteristic  of  sin.  In 
this  sin  there  is  a  corrupting  power  which  infects 
our  whole  nature,  so  that  there  is  a  viciosity  of  na- 
ture {zntiiun  iiaturce).^  Man  has  become  flesh  by  the 
fall.  Hence  he  thinks  the  things  of  flesh,  and  this 
makes  him  an  enemy  of  God.  "  Therefore  his  mind 
{jjiens)  is  bad,  and  his  disposition  {cinijnus)  is  bad 
from  the  beginning  of  his  life."  "  Zwingli  uses  lan- 
guage even  stronger  than  this,  for  he  says:  "  They 
who  have  been  born  of  one  dead  are  themselves 
also  dead.  The  dead  Adam  could  not  generate  one 
free  from  death,"  ^  that  is,  sin,  for  death  is  here  to 
be  understood  of  the  love  of  self  which  is  the  essence 
of  sin.  Zwingli  is  unique  among  the  three  great  Re- 
formers for  the  clearness  with  which  he  makes  the 
fundamental  distinction  between  the  corruption  of 
our  nature  and  what  is  properly  sin,  for  he  says  there 
are  two  kinds  of  sin  received  in  evangelical  doctrine : 
first  the  disease  {morbus)  which  we  contract  from  the 
author  of  the  race  by  which  we  are  addicted  to  self- 

•  P.  i68.  « P.  169.  3 1>,  i6g_ 


^j^  Huldrcich  Zwingli 

love,  and  the  second  that  which  is  done  contrary  to 
the  law.'  In  the  Ratio  Fidci  he  repeatedly  makes 
this  distinction,  and  says  that  the  sin  derived  from 
Adam  is  only  improperly  called  sin.''  Adam  was 
brought  into  the  condition  of  a  slave  by  sin  and  we 
are  born  in  that  condition.  Hence  death  hangs  over 
our  heads.  Thus,  while  essentially  Augustinian, 
Zwingli  shows  the  free  spirit  of  inquiry  which  will 
carry  him  still  farther  towards  new  views  in  later 
portions  of  his  system. 

The  topic  of  sin  also  raises  the  question  of  the 
agency  of  God  in  its  appearance  in  this  world,  and 
therefore  involves  the  theologian  at  once  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  His  providence  and  of  His  wisdom  and 
goodness.  Zwingli  has  given  us  a  special  treatise 
upon  these  subjects,  to  which  it  will  be  worth  while 
to  turn  for  a  little.'  Although  written  considerably 
later  than  the  "Commentary,"  it  proceeds  to  estab- 
lish the  doctrine  of  providence  upon  the  basis  of  those 
principles  as  to  the  essential  nature  of  God  which 
have  been  already  drawn  out.  The  title  of  the  first 
chapter  contains  its  doctrine,  that  "  Providence  is 
necessary  because  the  highest  good  necessarily  cares 
for  and  disposes  of  all  things."  '  The  course  of  the 
argument  has  been  substantially  sketched  above. 
The  relation  of  God's  providence  and  wisdom  is  this, 
that  the  wisdom  is  the  power,  and  the  providence 
the  operation  of  God.  It  is  His  "  constant  and  un- 
changeable government  and  administration  of  all 
things."  ^      The    entire    harmony    between    God's 

^lll.,  p.  203.  *IV.,  79-144- 

«IV.,  p.  6/:  *P.  81.  »P.  84. 


Zwingli's  Theology  379 

providence  and  wisdom  is  therefore  a  postulate  of 
Zwingli's  thinking.  So  absolute,  however,  is  God's 
government  of  all  things  that  Zwingli  now  proceeds 
to  d^ny  second  causes  entirely.  Nothing  material 
can  be  of  itself:  it  must  derive  its  being  from  Him 
who  alone  is  all  being.  "  There  is  nothing  which  is 
not  from  Him,  in  Him,  and  through  Him,  yea,  He 
Himself."'  Any  single  finite  force  is  "called  a 
created  power  because  the  universal  or  general  power 
is  exhibited  in  a  new  subject  and  new  form."  '  If 
finite  things  truly  proceeded  from  other  finite  things, 
then  these  all  must  also  proceed  from  still  other 
finite  things  like  themselves,  and  so  ad  infinitum. 
Since  God  can  derive  the  being  He  gives  them  from 
none  but  Himself,  He  gives  them  His  own  being, 
and  hence  they  are  He.  They  are  because  they  are 
in  Him  who  always  is  and  who  is  the  only  true  be- 
ing. Thus  there  is  one  Cause,  and  all  the  rest  are 
no  more  causes  than  the  ambassador  of  a  sovereign 
is  the  sovereign  himself. 

It  might  be  feared  lest  this  entire  identification  of 
the  creature  with  the  Creator  might  lead  to  its  de- 
gradation in  the  scale  of  being,  as  having  no  indi- 
viduality or  importance  in  itself.  Such  is,  however, 
not  Zwingli's  tendency.  All  things  become  of  the 
divine  species, — not  merely  man,  but  even  all  the 
creation  beneath  man,  although  there  remains  a  dis- 
tinction in  their  nobility  and  gifts.  In  fact,  the  idea 
of  God  as  the  essence  of  all  things  introduces  a  new 
view  of  spheres  of  life  which  Christians  were  apt  to 
relegate  to  the  realm  of  unmingled  evil.     Zwingli 

»  p.  85.  *  P.  86. 


380  Huldreich  Zwingli 

thus  attains  a  breadth  of  view  which  was  denied  to 
Luther.  The  heathen  who  have  written  holy  and 
wise  things  are  cited  to  sustain  Zwingh's  views  upon 
the  Deity,  and  this  procedure  he  defends  as  right 
and  proper  because,  whenever  a  good  or  holy  thing 
is  found  in  them,  it  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  emana- 
tion from  the  divine  fountain.'  The  conception  of 
the  all-permeating  activity  of  God  is  thus  a  liberal- 
ising element  in  Zwingli's  conception  of  the  world 
.and  its  worth. 

But  does  not  this  view  of  God's  causality  rob  man 
of  all  real  being  and  especially  of  responsibility  ? 
Such  had  been  in  Zwingli's  day,  as  it  has  ever  since, 
a  common  conclusion,  and  appeal  had  been  made  to 
him  to  clear  up  this  point.  He  therefore  now  pro- 
ceeds to  consider  man  and  the  divine  law."  Man  is 
the  most  remarkable  and  wonderful  being,  since  he 
is  both  a  heavenly  being,  as  possessing  a  spirit, 
and  an  earthly,  as  clothed  in  a  visible,  earthy 
body.  The  body  which  is  given  to  him  that  he 
may  be  a  part  of  the  world  over  which  he  rules,  is 
nevertheless  a  source  of  corruption  to  him.  He  is 
like  a  stream  of  pure  water  befouled  with  a  mass  of 
clay  and  thrown  into  the  greatest  commotion  by 
this  disturbing  element.  Why  has  God  placed  man 
in  so  unfortunate  a  position  ?  And  why,  when  he 
falls  into  sin,  which  arises  from  his  connection  with 
the  body,  does  God  punish  the  spirit,  although  it  is 
the  flesh  which  is  the  cause  inciting  to  sin  ?^  Thus 
sharply  does  Zwingli  formulate  the  ever-recurring 
question  as  to  man's  responsibility.      His  answer  is 

■  P.  93.  2  P.  98.  ^  P.   lOI. 


ZWINQLI'S  HELMET,   SWORD,  AND  SO-CALLED  BATTLE-AXE,  CARRIED  BY 

HIM  TO  THE  BATTLE  FIELD  OF  CARPEL,   OCT.    11,   1531, 

NOW  IN  THE  LANDES  MUSEUM,  ZURICH. 


Zwingli's  Theology  381 

by  no  means  as  keen.  The  soul  is  punished  because 
it  has  offended  against  the  law.'  But  why  has  God 
given  man  the  law,  against  which  he  was  sure  to 
offend,  when  He  might  have  left  him  to  ignorance 
and  innocence  ?"  The  answer  to  this  is  that  the  law 
is  the  expression  of  the  essence  of  God.  It  is  light, 
the  expression  of  the  reason  and  the  will  of  God. 
It  is  for  us  a  law;  for  God  it  is  not  law  but  nature 
and  essence.  Thus  from  the  command  to  love  God 
we  learn  that  the  nature  of  God  is  love.^  All  that 
He  does,  therefore,  will  be  according  to  His  nature, 
though  He  is  above  the  law  under  which  we  are 
bound.  But  the  flesh  does  not  understand  and 
agree  with  this  law  and  is  led  by  it  necessarily  into 
sin.  All  this  results  by  the  knowledge  and  will  of 
God,  since  He  is  the  sole  true  cause.  How,  then, 
can  the  spirit  be  punished  for  what  is  the  operation 
of  God  Himself  ?  Zwingli's  sole  answer  to  this 
question  is  that  it  has  sinned  against  the  law.* 
This  suggests  the  still  sharper  formulation  of  the 
question,  Whether  God  Himself  has  not  sinned  in 
the  sin  of  men,  because  their  sin  is  His  own  opera- 
tion ?  To  this  there  are  substantially  two  answers 
in  Zwingli:  one,  the  formal  one,  that  God  has  not 
sinned  against  the  law,  because  He  is  above  the  law 
and  cannot  sin  against  it;  and,  second,  the  more 
substantial  one,  that,  considered  as  an  act  of  the 
creature,  a  certain  thing  is  sin  which,  considered 
as  the  act  of  God,  since  it  is  done  for  other  and 
greater  reasons,  is  no  sin  at  all.  But  what  "  other 
and  greater  reason  "  can  there  be  for  the  introduc- 
'  p.  102.  « Ibid.  '  r.  104.  •»  r.  106. 


382  Huldreich  Zwingli 

tion  of  sin  into  the  world  by  the  act  of  God  ? 
r^ZwingH's  answer  here  is  that  sin  is  as  necessary  to 
holiness  as  some  evil  is  to  all  good.  Without  it  holi- 
ness cannot  be  known.  Hence,  God  produced  sin  in 
the  world  by  means  of  the  creature,  whose  sin 
was  wrought  by  God  through  the  instrumentality 
of  the  Tempter,  for  the  good  of  the  creature,  that  is, 
that  he  might  come  to  a  knowledge  of  righteous- 
ness."N  (The  goodness  of  God  in  it  all  is  the  more 
evident  in  that  He  provided  redemption^y  This  line 
of  reasoning  is  more  consistent  than  successful. 

Zwingli  passes  by  a  natural  transition  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  election,"  which  he  defines  as  "  the  free 
determination  of  the  divine  will  concerning  those 
who  are  to  be  made  blessed."  It  is  an  act  of  the 
free-will  of  God  in  distinction  from  His  mere  wisdom. 
In  opposition  to  Thomas  Aquinas,  Zwingli  makes 
election  to  be  independent  of  all  foreknowledge  of 
our  faith.  He  had  once  been  inclined  to  this  opin- 
ion of  Aquinas's,  but  rejected  it  because  it  en- 
dangers God's  goodness  and  omnipotence,  since 
He  must  have  foreseen  Judas's  becoming  bad, 
and  must  then  be  conceived  as  unable  to  hinder 
it;  and  also  destroys  His  sole  causality,  ascribing 
some  reason  for  His  activity  to  the  creature.'  Yet 
the  other  attributes  of  God,  wisdom,  love,  etc.,  are 
not  unconcerned  in  election,  though  it  is  primarily 
a  matter  of  the  will.  And  faith,  which  is  the  con- 
dition of  justification,  is  the  gift  of  God  and  follows 
upon  election  * ;  so  that  election,  rather  than  faith, 
may  be  said  to  be  the  justifying  principle.     "  Faith 

'f.  108.  ^F.iii.  *P.  113.  *V.izi. 


Zwingli's  Theology  383 

follows  election  as  its  symbol."  With  such  theories, 
Zwingli  of  course  denies  the  freedom  of  the  will,  as 
is  evident  from  innumerable  expressions  scattered 
here  and  there  through  his  works,  though  there  is 
no  special  treatise  devoted  to  this  theme. 

Zwingli's  whole  discussion  of  the  topic  of  sin  may 
be  sharply  criticised  as  vitiated  by  arguments  which 
are  verbal  and  not  material.  To  say  that  what  is 
wrong  to  man  because  against  law  is  not  to  God 
since  He  is  above  law,  amounts  to  but  little.  But 
Zwingli  did  not  intend  to  engage  in  mere  logo- 
machy. Law  is  viewed,  it  is  true,  too  mechanically 
as  an  outward  standard  to  which  man  must  conform. 
But  he  meant,  when  he  said  that  God  must  be 
above  law,  to  ascribe  to  Him  a  peculiar  and  glorious 
excellence.  It  is  a  fine  remark  when  he  says,  in 
attempted  expression  of  this  thoughts  that  what  is 
law  to  man  is  to  God  His  own  nature  and  essence.7 
He  illustrates  his  breadth  of  view  by  this  distinc- 
tion. The  whole  treatment  of  the  subject  is  an 
endeavour  to  state  the  facts  of  the  case  and  make 
them  consistent  with  the  theory  of  God's  operation 
which  Zwingli  had  conceived.  The  failure  lies  in 
the  impossibility  of  making  such  a  theory  fit  the 
facts  of  human  action  and  responsibility.  Zwingli 
was  as  successful,  perhaps,  as  anyone  of  his  age  in 
solving  the  difficulties  which  he  had  the  perfect 
candour  to  acknowledge  and  to  present. 

Zwingli  had  defined  religion  as  a  relation  existing 
between  God  and  man.'  Having  described  the 
terms  between  which  this  relation  exists,  he  now 

'P.  104.  »III.,p.  IS5. 


384  Huldreich  Zwingli 

returns  to  discuss  religion  itself.'  Man,  having 
fallen  from  God,  will,  if  left  to  himself,  never  re- 
turn. God  in  His  great  mercy  now  goes  out  after 
man  and  exhibits  him  to  himself  so  that  he  recog- 
nises his  disobedience,  loss,  and  misery,  as  Adam 
did.  Thus  He  produces  despair  of  himself  in  man's 
soul.  But  God  also  shows  him  the  divine  mercy, 
and  this  he  sees  to  be  so  great  that  he  cannot  be 
separated  from  it.  He  thus  comes  to  trust  God, 
treats  Him  as  a  parent,  adheres  to  Him.  Thus  is 
established  the  relation  which  is  described  by  the 
term  "  religion,"  which  is,  therefore,  entire  depend- 
ence upon  God.  False  religion,  on  the  contrary,  is 
trusting  in  anyone  else  than  God,  especially  in  any 
creature. 

All  this  is  general  and  true  of  any  religion.  The 
specifically  Christian  religion  gathers  about  the  per- 
son of  Christ.  Hence  Zwingli  devotes  a  special 
paragraph  to  the  definition  of  Christianity.'  Christ 
is  the  certainty  and  the  pledge  of  the  grace  of  God. 
But  how  is  this  grace  to  be  bestowed  upon  men  who 
have  wandered  from  God  and  will  not  come  to  Him, 
since  God  is  just,  and  justice  demands  the  punish- 
ment of  sinners  ?  God  needs  to  exhibit  Himself  as 
He  is,  both  just  and  also  merciful  and  good.  To 
this  end  His  justice  must  be  satisfied.  But  how  is 
this  to  be  done  ?  Can  man  do  it  ?  He  is  too  sinful 
to  correspond  to  the  spotless  law  of  God.  Neither 
have  good  works  in  themselves  any  merit  to  satisfy 
the  justice  of  God.  It  remains,  therefore,  that  God 
must  provide  for  such  satisfaction,  which   He  has 

•  '  r.  173.  ^  P.  179. 


^ 


Zwingli's  Theology**^':^__.S.8i 

done  by  sending  His  Son  incarnate  to  make  satis- 
faction in  our  behalf.  To  this  end  Christ  was 
prophesied;  miraculously  conceived;  and  born  of 
the  Virgin  Mary  (to  avoid  the  stain  of  original  sin);  jr^ 

suffered  all  things  which  were  to  be  inflicted  upon 
us  in  consequence  of  sin,  such  as  want,  cold,  and 
every  other  evil;  and  especially  surrendered  Him- 
self to  death.  "  For  this  was  justice,  that  He, 
through  whom  we  were  all  created,  in  whom  there 
was  no  sin,  .  .  .  innocently  bore  those  things 
which  we  had  merited  by  sinning,  but  which  He 
bore  in  our  behalf."'  Zwingli  here  places  himself 
distinctly  upon  the  ground  common  to  the  Re- 
formers, that  the  death  of  Christ  was  a  sacrificial 
satisfaction  of  justice  in  our  behalf.  The  individual 
words  and  phrases  employed  by  him  are  clear  in 
their  implications,  such  as  lito  (to  make  atonement 
for),  expiatio  (expiation),  ea  ferre  qucB  nos  pcccando 
coinmcriiimiis  (to  bear  those  things  which  we  had 
merited  by  our  sins),  redemptiotiis  pretiiim  (price  of 
redemption) ;  but  there  is,  further  than  this,  no 
theoretical  development  of  the  doctrine. 

In  the  Christimia;  Fidei  Expositio  "  there  is  a  fuller 
treatment  of  this  theme  in  which,  in  connection 
with  the  general  style  of  thought  which  had  been 
prevalent  since  the  days  of  Anselm,  Zwingli  presents 
the  same  conceptions  of  the  work  of  Christ  from  a 
slightly  different  viewpoint.  He  derives  the  work 
of  atonement  from  the  goodness  of  God  which  must 
control  in  every  plan  and  act.  Through  goodness 
God  clothed  His  Son  in  flesh  that  He  might  exhibit 

'P.  1S9.  ''IV,  42. 

35 


386  Huldreich  Zwingli 

to,  and  provide  for,  the  world  redemption  and  reno- 
vation. "  Since  His  goodness,  that  is,  His  justice 
[note  this  identification],  and  His  mercy  are  holy, 
that  is,  firm  and  immutable.  His  justice  required 
expiation,  His  mercy  pardon.  His  favour  new  life. "  ' 
Hence  this  incarnate  Son  was  made  a  victim  that 
He  might  placate  affronted  justice  and  reconcile  it 
with  those  who  did  not  dare  to  approach  God's  face 
in  their  own  innocence,  since  they  were  conscious 
of  guilt.  This  was  because,  though  He  was  merci- 
ful, yet  virtue  could  not  bear  the  repudiation  of  its 
own  work  [the  law],  and  justice  could  not  bear  im- 
punity. Justice  and  mercy  are,  therefore,  so  min- 
gled that  the  latter  should  furnish  the  victim  and  the 
former  should  accept  it  for  the  expiation  of  all  sins. 

Such  being  the  central  point  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion distinguished  from  religion  in  general,  Zwingli 
is  now  prepared  to  define  th^  Gospel,  which  he  does 
in  the  wor4s,  "  that  in  the  nalne  of  Christ  sins  are 
remitted."','  The  progress  of  salvation  begins  in 
the  illumination  of  God,  whereby  we  come  to  a 
knowledge  of  ourselves.  Thereupon  we  fall  into 
despair.  We  flee  to  the  mercy  of  God,  but  His 
justice  throws  us  into  dismay.  Eternal  Wisdom 
finds  a  way  whereby  it  can  itself  render  satisfaction 
to  its  own  justice,  a  thing  which  is  absolutely  im- 
possible for  us.  God  sends  His  Son  to  make  satis- 
faction for  us  and  become  an  indubitable  security 
for  us.  But  the  fruits  of  this  sacrifice  become  ours 
only  upon  the  condition  that  we  become  new  creat- 
ures,  put  on  Christ,   and  so   walk.      Consequently 

'IV.,  47.  am.,  192. 


Zwingli's  Theology  387 

the  whole  life  of  the  Christian  is  a  constant  repent- 
ance. Here  Zvvingli  pauses  to  discuss,  in  sharp 
distinction  from  the  compulsory  and  hypocritical 
penance  of  the  false  Church,  the  marks  of  true 
repentance.' 

Upon  this  head  and  several  of  the  following,  our 
present  purpose  does  not  call  us  to  linger.  Zwingli 
maintains,  with  many  a  minor  peculiarity,  the  great 
Protestant  doctrines  upon  the  law,  sin,  the  keys, 
and  the  Church.  The  law  he  reduces  to  the  funda- 
mental command  of  love  to  neighbour  as  its  sub- 
stance and  root.'  The  keys  are  keys  to  open,  like 
those  of  a  castle,  and  not  to  shut,  and  are  the  know- 
ledge and  ability  given  to  the  servants  of  God  to 
lead  others  unto  salvation.^  The  Church  he  else- 
where defines  more  fully  as  the  assembly  {concio, 
coetus),  by  which  he  means  the  local  assembly  of  the 
Christian  people  in  any  city  or  town.*  This  external 
Church  comprises  all  those  who  call  themselves 
Christians,  even  though  they  are  not  truly  such. 
This  is  not,  however,  the  Church  of  which  mention 
is  made  in  the  Apostles'  Creed  in  the  phrase,  "  I 
believe  in  the  Catholic  Church."  The  true  spouse 
of  Christ,  "  the  Catholic  Church,"  is  composed  of 
those  who  believe  in  Christ :  it  is  the  communion  of 
saints,  and  is  known  to  God  alone.  In  this  dis- 
tinction between  the  visible  and  invisible  Church 
Zwingli  entirely  agrees  with  the  other  Protestant 
Reformers.  He  differs,  however,  somewhat  in  the 
place  he  ascribes  to  the  local  Church.^     This  pos- 

'  III.,  199.      ^P.  273/. 

*  P.  203.  ■•  P.  226  ;  cf.  i.,  469.  *  III.,  226  ;  cf.  i.,  469, 


388  Huldreich  Zwingli 

sesses  all  the  powers  which  are  conferred  upon  the 
Church  at  large.  It  may  exercise  the  power  of  ex- 
communication.' It  also  judges  its  pastors  and  the 
Word  preached  to  it ;  and  yet  this  is  done  not  by  the 
outward  Church  as  such,  but  by  the  true  spouse  of 
Christ  which  is  embosomed  in  it,  since  the  judg- 
ment is  given  according  to  the  Word  of  God  in  the 
minds  of  the  faithful.  For  legislative  purposes, 
Zwingli  conceives  the  local  Church  of  any  city  as 
represented  in  the  government  of  the  city — that  is, 
in  its  board  of  magistrates.  More  distinctly  indi- 
vidual is  the  claim  which  he  asserts  for  the  local 
Church  to  the  attribute  of  infallibility.  He  puts  this 
infallibility  in  the  sharpest  opposition  to  the  infalli- 
bility of  the  Roman  Church.'  The  Roman  Church 
errs  because  it  rests  upon  its  own  word :  the  true 
spouse  of  Christ  "cannot  err"  because  it  "relies 
upon  the  word  of  God  alone."  ^  The  source  of 
this  infallibility  is  the  fact  that  the  Church  does 
not  propose  to  set  up  anything  of  its  own  accord, 
but  simply  listens  to  the  word  of  God  and  accepts 
what  it  finds  there.  Its  infallibility  is,  therefore,  the 
infallibility  of  the  word  of  God,  and  Zwingli's  doc- 
trine of  the  infallibility  of  the  local  Church  is  like 
that  of  the  other  Protestant  leaders  as  to  the  "  per- 
spicuity of  the  Scriptures."  The  Scriptures  are 
plain  in  the  great  outlines  of  the  way  of  salvation, 
so  that  no  one  who  trusts  himself  to  them  will  fail 
of  eternal  life;  and  the  infallibility  of  the  Church  is 
such  that  when,  in  the  exercise  of  her  God-given 
authority,  she  tries  to  find  out  God's  will  in  the 
'  III.,  135.  » P.  12S  ;  cf.  i.,  468,  470.  3  P.  12S. 


Zvvingli's  Theology  389 

great  matters  of  salvation,  she  will  be  infallibly  led 
into  the  knowledge  of  it. 

The  discussions  of  the  "Commentary,"  as  we  have 
thus  followed  them,  have  been  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance to  the  establishment  of  a  sound  and  com- 
prehensive theology,  but  they  have  been  defective 
in  many  respects  and  have  had  little  in  them  upon 
which  Zwingli's  distinctive  fame  as  a  theologian 
could  rest.  They  were  defective,  for  example,  in 
omitting  all  formal  discussion  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  though  there  are  many  passages  in  which 
the  substance  of  the  doctrine  is  well  expressed.' 
Doubtless  Zwingli  did  not  intend  to  traverse  the 
ground  where  he  agreed  substantially  with  the 
ancient,  and  even  with  the  Roman  Church.  Luther 
and  his  friends  misunderstood  this  reticence  and 
thought  Zwingli  a  denier  of  the  unmentioned  doc- 
trines, though  Melanchthon's  silence  in  the  earlier 
editons  of  the  Loci  upon  the  same  points,  and  his 
expression  of  some  degree  of  contempt  for  such 
studies,  might  have  led  to  worse  conclusions  as  to 
his  orthodoxy.  But  we  now  come  into  the  region 
in  which  the  great  contest  between  Luther  and 
Zwingli  was  waged,  and  in  which  Zwingli  made  an 
advance  upon  all  his  contemporaries,  —  to  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Sacraments. 

In  this  discussion  the ' '  Commentary  ' '  was  the  first 
production  of  Zwingli's  by  which  he  was  willing  to 
stand.  He  expressly  says  that  his  previous  treat- 
ment of  the  theme  in  the  Sixty-seven  Articles  was 
written  for  the  times  rather  than  to  declare  the  whole 

^  E.  g.,  iii.,  251. 


390  Huldrcich  Zwingli 

truth,  "  that  he  might  not  cast  pearls  before  swine,"  ' 
The  "Commentary  "  represents  his  matured  views, 
and  although  he  wrote  much  afterwards  in  his  contro- 
versy with  Luther,  the  history  of  which  has  already 
been  elsewhere  detailed,"  he  added  nothing  and 
modified  nothing  of  any  importance  to  the  under- 
standing of  his  theological  system. 

He  begins  by  mentioning  three  views,'  all  of 
which  he  rejects,  viz.  :  (i)  That  the  sacrament  is 
something  which  by  its  own  power  liberates  the 
conscience  from  sin  [the  magical  theory  of  the  sac- 
raments] ;  (2)  that  it  is  a  sign  upon  the  performance 
of  which  the  thing  signified  is  internally  performed; 
(3)  that  it  is  a  sign  given  for  the  purpose  of  render- 
ing him  -who  receives  it  certain  that  that  which  is 
signified  by  the  sacrament  has  already  been  per- 
formed. In  opposition  to  these  he  defines  his  own 
view.  It  is  that  the  sacrament  is  a  dedication  and 
a  consecration  {initio  et  oppignoratid)  and  a  public 
setting    of    the   person   apart   {publica  consignatio). 

Having  been  initiated,  a  man  must  do  that  which 
the  function,  order,  or  institute  with  which  he  has 
connected  himself  demands."^  It  follows  at  once 
from  this  conception  that  the  sacrament  has  no 
power  to  liberate  the  conscience.  God  alone  can 
cleanse  the  soul.  The  first  of  the  above  theories 
is  thus  disposed  of.  As  for  the  second,  if  the 
cleansing  be  performed,  the  subject  is  conscious  of 
it,  for  it  is  done  by  the  inward  act  of  faith;  and 
faith   must  be  conscious.      Zwingli's  great  purpose 

illl.,  239  sq.  'III.,  22S. 

^  See  Chapter  XIV  and  Index.  *  P.  229. 


Zwingli's  Theology  391 

in  opposing  Luther's  doctrine  as  well  as  that  of 
Rome  comes  here  into  view.  It  was  to  rescue  the 
t_rue  character  of  faith.  In  reply  to  the  third  he 
says,  that  for  the  same  reason  one  does  not  need  a 
pledge  that  the  cleansing  has  already  been  per- 
formed. If  it  has,  he  knows  it,  and  that  is  enough. 
The  great  gift  of  God  is  thus,  in  Zwingli's  mind,  a 
matter  of  experience.  He  sometimes  makes  it  iden- 
tical with  faith,  this  being,  upon  one  side,  a  conscious 
act,  and  upon  the  other,  the  sum  and  substance  of 
the  life  into  which  the  Christian  is  ushered  through 
forgiveness.  He  lives  a  life  of  faith — that  is,  faith 
may  designate  his  highest  experiences.  And  this 
faith,  he  says  over  and  over  again,  is  a  fact,  an  ex-" 
perience,  not  a  mere  matter  of  intellectual  knowledge 
and  imagination,  or  a  mere  opinion.  It  is  trust  in 
Christ,  a  new  direction  of  the  purposes  and  affections 
of  the  man,  a  wholly  internal  operation  of  the  soul 
itself;  and  it  is  therefore  produced  not  by  external 
means,  which  can  produce  only  external  changes, 
but  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  Neither  is  the  Holy  Spirit 
bound  to  external  means  or  limited  by  them.  The 
object  of  faith,  likewise,  is  always  Christ  or  God  as 
revealed  in  Christ,  and  it  can  therefore  have  no 
material  thing,  like  the  body  of  Christ,  or  the  nature 
of  the  elements  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  for  its 
proper  object.  Whether  the  elements  of  the  sacra- 
ment are  bread  and  wine  or  the  real  body  and  blood 
of  the  Lord  is  a  question  for  the  determination  of 
the  mind  by  means  of  sensation  and  perception,  not 
for  faith,  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  such  ob- 
jects.    When  the  theologians  of  the  Roman  Church 


392  Huldreich  Zwingli 

say,  "  We  believe  that  y^o.  perceive  the  real  body  and 
blood  of  the  Lord  at  the  altar,"  they  utterly  con- 
found faith  with  what  is  totally  different.  Zwingli 
also  objects  to  Luther's  view  as  obscuring  the  nature 
of  faith  and  as  confounding  its  object.' 

This  effort  of  ZwingH  in  behalf  of  a  consistent 
definition  of  faith  may  well  be  counted  as  among 
his  most  important  contributions  to  the  cause  of 
evangelical  truth.  That  faith  is  a  spiritual  process, 
produced  by  spiritual  means,  is  a  far-reaching  prin- 
ciple of  the  utmost  importance.  Much  as  Protestant 
theology  has  insisted  upon  faith,  it  has  long  been 
obscure  in  defining  it.  Could  Zwingli's  fundamental 
ideas  have  been  fully  received,  that  faith  is  an  act 
of  self-committal,  that  it  is  a  spiritual  process  of  the 
soul,  that  it  is  conscious,  and  that  it  is  the  eternal 
life  which  Christ  promised,  already  in  exercise  and 
possession,  then  long  and  gloomy  chapters  in  the 
history  of  Reformed  Theology,  in  which  the  story 
of  spiritual  paralysis  in  consequence  of  ignorance  of 
the  way  of  salvation  and  positive  misrepresentation 
of  the  gift  of  divine  forgiveness,  might  have  been 
spared  the  world.  Even  the  theologian,  evangelist, 
and  saint,  Jonathan  Edwards,  could  say  to  an  in- 
quirer: 

"  You  must  not  think  much  of  your  pains,  and  of 
the  length  of  time  ;  you  must  press  towards  the  king- 
dom of  God,  and  do  your  utmost,  and  hold  out  to  the 
end  ;  and  learn  to  make  no  account  of  it  when  you  have 
done.     You  must  undertake  the  business  of  seeking  sal- 

'  JII.,  248. 


Zwingli's  Theology  393 

vation  upon  these  terms  and  with  no  other  expectation 
than  this,  that  if  ever  God  bestoivs  mercy,  it  will  be  in 
His  own  time,  and  not  only  so,  but  also,  when  you  have 
done  all,  God  will  not  hold  Himself  obliged  to  show  you 
mercy  at  last." ' 

But  Zwingii  would  never  have  written  such  a  trav- 
esty of  the  Gospel,  and  Zwingii 's  clearness  and 
breadth  would  have  spared  generations  of  Calvinists, 
before  Edwards  and  after  him,  from  the  necessity 
of  consequent  darkness  and  pain. 

In  accordance  with  this  general  view  of  the  sacra- 
ments Zwingii  defines  the  first  sacrament  which  he 
discusses,  which  is  baptism,^  matrimony  being  ex- 
cluded from  the  number  of  true  sacraments.  Bapt- 
ism is  not  a  sacrament  which  conveys  the  gt^ce 
which  it  signifies.  To  John  the  Baptist  it  was  a^n 
essential  part  of  his  teaching.  It  said  as  by  a  visible 
word  that,  as  one  bathed  comes  forth  from  the  bath 
cleansed,  so  they  that  are  baptised  ought  to  put  off 
the  old  life  of  sin  and  begin  a  new  life.  It  also 
pledged  them  to  this.  Such  baptism  is  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  is  of  two  sorts:  an  inward  baptism,  which  is 
equivalent  to  the  creation  of  true  faith,  and  an  out- 
ward, such  as  that  through  which  the  Apostles  spoke 
with  tongues.  In  our  day,  not  all  receive  the  latter 
baptism,  but  all  who  are  truly  religious  have  become 
so  through  the  illumination  and  drawing  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  There  is,  however,  no  distinction  between 
the  baptism  of  John  and  that  of  Christ.     Christ  did 


'  Works,  Dwight  edition,  v.,  467.  '^V.  233. 


394  Huldreich  Zwingli 

not  demand  a  new  baptism  of  His  disciples  when 
they  had  once  been  baptised  by  John,  nor  is  the 
purpose  of  the  two  baptisms  different.  Both 
preached  repentance,  and  both  baptised  with  the 
same  purpose.  Christian  baptism  is  baptism  into 
the  name  of  the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy 
Spirit,  by  which  they  who  formerly  served  the 
Devil  now  consecrate  themselves  to  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Spirit.' 

In  the  special  treatise  upon  "  Baptism,  Re-Bap- 
tism, and  Infant  Baptism  "  "  the  same  general  views 
reappear.  Baptism  is  a  sign  that  obligates  the  one 
baptised  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  but  salvation  is  not  de- 
pendent upon  it.  It  cannot  wash  away  sins.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  rebaptise  those  who  were  baptised 
in  the  Roman  Church,  because  infant  baptism  is 
itself  valid  and  because  we  may  be  reasonably  cer- 
tain of  our  baptism,  since  there  are  numerous  wit- 
nesses of  it.  And  then  baptism  is  essentially  a 
single  act,  not  to  be  repeated.  The  validity  of  in- 
fant baptism  rests  upon  the  analogy  of  circumcision, 
and  is  equally  proper  with  that  as  a  sign  to  hold 
children  to  their  duty  to  God.  Infant  baptism 
probably  began  in  the  time  of  Christ,  for  there  is 
nothing  against  it  in  the  New  Testament,  and  much 
that  may  be  cited  for  it.  Indeed,  the  children  of 
Christians,  as  standing  under  the  covenant  of  God 

'  In  his  De  Providejitia  Dei  (iv.,  125),  Zwingli  says:  "Since  all 
the  elect  were  elected  before  the  establishment  of  the  world,  and  the 
infants  of  the  faithful  are  of  the  Church,  there  is  no  doubt  that  when 
these  infants  die  they  are  received  into  the  number  of  the  blessed 
according  to  election,  which  the  Apostle  says  remains  sure." 

*  German,  of  the  year  1525,   Werkc,  ii.,  i.  230  sqq. 


Zvvingli's  Theology  395 

with  His  people,  and  as  the  children  of  God,  ought 
to  be  baptised. 

In  regard  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  Zwingli  defines 
it,  witli  s{)ecial  reference  to  the  Greek  word  eiichar- 
ist,  as  a  thnnksgiving,  a  festival  of  thanksgiving 
among  those  who  proclaim  the  death  of  Christ.  It 
involves  also  the  element  of  self-consecration,  and  is 
an  act  more  for  the  community  of  Christians  before 
whom  the  communicant  professes  thus  his  faith  in 
Christ  than  for  the  communicant  himself.  Hence 
Zwingli  came  to  the  view  that  its  nature  is  that  of  a 
V  symbol,  and  he  adopted  the  tropical  interpretation 
of  the  word  "  is  "  in  the  words  of  institution,  "  This 
is  my  body,"  paraphrasing  it,  "  This  represents  my 
body,"  thus  sweeping  away  at  once  the  whole  the- 
ory of  what  has  been  called  consubstantiation,  as 
well  as  transubstantiation.' 

The  following  year  after  the  appearance  of  the 
"  Commentary,"  Luther  began  the  series  of  contro- 
versial writings  which  were  interchanged  between 
himself  and  Zwingli,  and  from  that  time  until  the 
Marburg  Colloquy  in  1 529  the  pen  of  neither  of  them 
had  very  long  repose.  Zwingli  developed  his  views 
with  great  acuteness  and  dialectic  skill,  but  he  added 
little  to  their  substance.  The  Colloquy  brought  him 
neither  instruction  nor  change.  It  was  more  evident 
there,  however,  what  was  the  fundamental  question 
atjssue,  and  this  was,  in  a  word,  the  spirituality  of 
religion.  Zwingli,  in  accordance  with  the  natural 
consequences  of  the  emphasis  which  he  laid  upon 
the  sole  causality  of  God,  maintained  the  freedom 

•  HI..  253. 


39^  Huldreich  Zwingli 

of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  his  converting  operations, 
and  exhibited  a  surprising  breadth  of  view,  embrac- 
ing within  the  gracious  operations  of  God  even 
noted  cases  of  moral  excellence  among  the  heathen, 
like  Socrates.'  Luther,  influenced  excessively  by 
the  historical  tendencies  of  the  Roman  Church,  was 
inclined  to  emphasise  the  necessity  of  the  means, 
and  to  restrict  the  oper^ations  of  the  Spirit  to  those 
to  whom  the  Word  was  preached  and  the  sacraments 
administered.  To  him  the  Gospel  appeared  to  be 
evacuated  of  its  power  and  rendered  superfluous  if 
such  men  as  Socrates,  who  had  never  received  it, 
could  nevertheless  be  saved.  With  all  his  large- 
heartedness,  Luther  was  seriously  limited  in  his 
horizon.  In  Zwingli  there  appeared  the  tendency 
which  has  been  characteristic  of  the  Reformed  The- 
ology ever  since — the  tendency  to  ascribe  perfect 
reasonableness  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  and  to 
interpret  the  Scriptures  largely  upon  the  supposition 
that  they  must  be  reasonable,  while  yet  yielding  to 
them  the  cordial  assent  of  simple  faith  in  regions 
where  evidently  they  speak  above  human  compre- 
hension. 

Discussions  upon  the  sacrament,  inasmuch  as  they 
had  to  do  with  the  human  Christ,  naturally  led, 
both  in  Luther's  and  in  Zwingli's  case,  to  further 
consideration  of  the  subject  of  Christology.  With 
Luther,  this  developed  in  the  period  before  Mar- 
burg into  discussions  of  the  eternal  pre-existence  of 
Christ's  body,  and  into  the  doctrine  of  the  *'  Commun- 
ication  of   Properties"   {^comDiiuiicatio  idioniatimi), 

» IV..  65. 


Zwingli's  Theology.  397 

whereby  each  nature  was  supposed  to  communicate 
to  the  other  its  peculiar  properties,  while  at  the 
same  time  it  did  not  itself  cease  to  be  what  it  was. 
Luther  subsequently  developed  this  doctrine  still 
farther  and  involved  himself  in  difficulties  both  con- 
scious and  unconscious.  Zwingli  remained  rather 
upon  the  ground  of  the  simple  doctrine  of  Chalce- 
don :  that  there  are  two  natures,  human  and  divine, 
each  perfect  and  entire,  that  they  are  not  con- 
founded, and  that  each  remains  what  it  is  according 
to  its  own  character.  His  phraseology  shows  in 
many  places  a  tendency  to  that  balancing  of  the 
two  natures  over  against  one  another  which  is  char- 
acteristic of  the  creed  of  Chalcedon.'  He  sought  to 
explain  the  phenomena  of  the  Scriptures  upon 
which  Luther  had  based  his  communication  of  prop- 
erties by  means  of  the  aXkoiooffi^,  or  transference. 
This  takes  place  when  "  one  names  one  of  the  two 
natures  and  understands  the  other;  or  names  that 
which  they  both  are  and  understands  nevertheless 
only  one  of  the  two."  '  This  is  enough,  he  thinks, 
to  explain  the  whole  of  the  matter.  With  him,  as 
with  the  ancient  theologians,  the  divine  Logos  is 
the  personalising  principle  of  the  Christ.  But  into 
further  efforts  to  clear  up  the  mystery  of  the  nature 
of  Christ,  he  does  not  go.  His  strength  in  this  di- 
rection seems  to  be  consumed  by  the  many  efforts 
he  makes  to  exhibit  the  inconsistencies  and  absurd- 
ities of  Luther's  ideas  and  to  win  him  to  a  simpler 
theory  of  the  Eucharist. 

With  this  theme  is  naturally  connected  the  doc- 
>IV.,  iSi  ;  ii.,  2,  67.  ML,  6S. 


39^  Huldreich  Zwingli 

trine  of  the  work  of  Christ,  upon  which  Zwingli 
often  lets  fall  incidental  remarks  in  passing  and 
which  he  treats  more  at  length  in  the  Fidei  CJiris- 
tiancB  Expositio}  In  these  scattering  remarks  the 
various  points  which  needed  emphasizing  against 
the  papal  corruptions  of  the  day  are  brought  out 
fully  and  cogently.  The  fact  that  the  death  of 
Christ  is  the  only  meritorious  cause  of  our  salvation 
against  the  doctrine  of  good  works,  His  sole  medi- 
atorship  between  God  and  man,  His  death  as  the 
great  exhibition  of  God's  love  towards  men,  the  re- 
demption of  men  from  death  and  the  devil,  the 
perfect  revelation  through  Him  of  the  will  of  God, 
are  thus  incidentally  developed. 

Zwingli's  theology,  as  thus  sketched  by  him,  is  in 
substantial  agreement  with  that  of  the  other  Re- 
formers both  Lutheran  and  Calvinistic.  It  sub- 
sequently admitted  without  difficulty  the  practical 
union  of  the  German  with  the  French  Swiss  in  doc- 
trine and  practice.  At  Marburg  he  was  able  with- 
out difficulty  to  subscribe  a  statement  of  doctrine 
drawn  up  by  Luther,  with  whom  his  only  great 
difference  was  that  upon  the  nature  of  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper.  He  was,  however, 
decidedly  marked  by  the  freer  and  broader  spirit 
of  the  humanistic  circles.  Luther  was  a  man  of 
greater  heart,  of  a  profounder  emotional  nature, 
and  of  a  more  vivid  experience  of  the  great  life 
forces  of  Christianity.  He  seized  upon  the  truth 
by  intuition  and  defended  it  with  stormy  and  violent 
eagerness.     He  was  but  to  a  small  degree  capable 

'  IV.,  47  sq. 


Zwingli's  Theology.  399 

of  puttini^  himself  in  the  place  of  an  antagonist, 
estimating  him  correctly,  and  meeting  him  success- 
fully. He  often  refused  to  read  his  adversaries' 
writings.  Zwingli  was  clearer,  keener,  calmer,  in- 
formed himself  accurately  upon  the  subjects  which 
he  would  discuss,  and  debated  them  with  more 
comprehensiveness.  Above  all,  he  was  broader  in 
his  view  of  things  in  general,  as  he  was  to  a  larger 
degree  a  man  of  affairs.  He  could  ascribe  merit  to 
those  with  whom  he  disagreed,  and  could  embrace 
even  the  pagan  world  in  his  scheme  of  the  universe. 
Luther  denied  the  freedom  of  the  will  to  emphasise 
the  certainty  of  salvation  from  God.  Zwingli  de- 
nied it  to  emphasise  God's  causality.  Luther  thus 
looked  upon  man  as  so  sinful  in  his  enslaved  condi- 
tion that  there  was  no  hope  for  him  aside  from  the 
established  means  of  grace.  Zwingli  saw  the  opera- 
tion of  God  in  all  the  world  and  hoped  for  the 
operation  of  grace  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Church, 
This  freer  spirit  Zwingli  handed  down  to  the  Re- 
formed theology ;  and  though  it  was  often  eclipsed 
by  other  elements,  it  has  not  been  without  its  con- 
tinuous influence  to  the  present  day, 

Zwingli's  ethics  received  no  systematic  develop- 
ment at  his  hand  with  the  single  exception  of  the 
treatise  written  in  1523  upon  the  "  Education  of 
Noble  Youths,"  '  and  here  only  in  connection  with 
the  general  subject  of  education.  The  whole  theme 
is  discussed  from  a  Christian  standpoint,  the  object 
of  the  education  which  Zwingli  describes  being  to 
develop   the   highest  type  of  Christian    manhood. 


'  IV.,  148  sqq.     See  this  volume,  pp.  211,  sq. 


^^z  H  A  N  y  "v. 


406  Huldreich  Zwingli 

Education  begins,  therefore,  in  the  knowledge  of 
God,  whose  nature  as  manifested  in  creation  and 
providence  is  to  be  taught  the  youth.  The  effort  is 
here  to  be  made  to  lead  the  young  man  from  a 
knowledge  of  his  sins  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Re- 
deemer and  to  the  living  and  personal  apprehension 
of  the  way  of  salvation.  Upon  the  basis  of  such  a 
religious  change  in  the  soul,  the  teacher  is  to  seek 
to  form  a  blameless  life.  To  this  end  he  is  to  incul- 
cate constant  acquaintance  with  the  Word  of  God. 
To  this,  the  knowledge  of  languages  is  necessary, 
and  here  Zwingli  warns  against  temptations  to  use 
superior  knowledge  as  a  means  of  gratifying  wan- 
tonness, ambition,  love  of  power,  deceitfulness, 
vain  philosophy,  etc.  On  the  contrary,  the  youth 
must  be  instructed  in  the  duty  of  modesty  and 
reticence  in  discourse,  propriety  and  conformity  to 
usage  in  the  choice  of  words,  in  gesture,  and  deliv- 
ery; in  temperance  and  simplicity  in  the  reception 
of  food  and  drink  and  in  clothing  and  personal 
adornment  ;  in  chastity  and  self-control  in  his  rela- 
tions with  the  female  sex.  He  is  especially  to  be 
warned  against  the  desire  of  money  and  fame,  and 
is  to  be  taught  to  imitate  Christ  in  all  these  things. 
He  may  learn  fencing,  but  only  so  far  as  is  neces- 
sary to  the  defence  of  the  fatherland.  Especially  is 
idleness  to  be  avoided,  and  no  one  is  to  be  received 
into  the  citizenship  of  the  state  who  has  not  a  trade 
by  which  he  can  earn  his  own  living.  The  law  of 
love  to  our  neighbour  is  to  be  impressed  and  en- 
forced. It  demands  a  true,  inner  sympathy  and 
participation  in  the  lot  of  others,   whether  joy  or 


Zwingli's  Theology.  401 

sorrow.  This  leads  to  a  discussion  of  social  rela- 
tions with  our  fellow  men;  and  while  festivals  and 
parties  are  not  forbidden,  they  arc  to  be  enjoyed 
with  moderation.  Obedience  to  parents  is  to  be 
insisted  upon.  Self-control,  as  of  the  temper,  is  to 
be  sought.  Games  may  be  played,  but  not  those 
which  furnish  no  exercise  for  the  mind,  like  dice 
and  cards.  In  all  things  should  genuineness  and 
love  control  the  conduct  towards  one's  fellow  men. 
"  It  is  the  work  of  a  Christian  not  to  be  able  to 
utter  great  things  upon  the  dogmas,  but  to  render 
great  and  weighty  services,  by  the  help  of  God."  ' 

In  this  brief  outline  we  get  the  general  conception 
of  a  Christian  life  which  Zwingli  had.  Without 
asceticism  or  undue  severity,  it  was  to  be  a  sober. 
God-fearing,  earnest,  and  useful  life. 

>IV.,  158. 

26 


APPENDIX 


403 


CONCERNING  CHOICE  AND  LIBERTY  RE- 
SPECTING FOOD— CONCERNING  OFFENCE 
AND  VEXATION —  WHETHER  ANYONE 
HAS  POWER  TO  FORBID  FOODS  AT  CER- 
TAIN TIMES— OPINION  OF  HULDREICH 
ZWINGLI,  SET  FORTH  FROM  THE  PULPIT 
AT  ZURICH,  IN  THE  YEAR  1522.' 

To  all  pious  Christians  at  Zurich,  I,  Huldrych  Zwin- 
gli,  a  simple  herald  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  Jesus,  wish 
the  grace,  mercy  and  peace  of  God, 


T~^ EARLY  Beloved  in  God,  after  you  have  heard  so 
^^^  eagerly  the  Gospel  and  the  teachings  of  the  holy 
Apostles  now  for  the  fourth  year,  teachings  which  Al- 
mighty God  has  been  merciful  enough  to  publish  to  you 
through  my  weak  efforts,  the  majority  of  you,  thank 
God,  have  been  greatly  fired  with  the  love  of  God  and 
of  your  neighbour.  You  have  also  begun  faithfully  to 
embrace  and  to  take  unto  yourselves  the  teachings  of 
the  Gospel  and  the  liberty  which  they  give,  so  that  after 
you  have  tried  and  tasted  the  sweetness  of  the  heavenly 

'  Werke,  ed.  Schuler  und  Schulthess,  I.  1-29.  (From  the  German 
by  Lawrence  A.  McLouth,  Professor  of  German,  New  York  Uni- 
versity. The  first  published  defence  of  Zwinijli's  reformatory  ideas. 
The  quotations  are  in  general  conformed  to  the  Authorised  Version, 
which  more  closely  represents  the  text  Zwingli  used  than  the  text 
underlying  the  Revised  Version. 

404 


Appendix  4^5 

bread  by  which  man  lives,  no  other  food  has  since  been 
able  to  please  you.  And,  as  when  the  children  of  Israel 
were  led  out  of  Egypt,  at  first  impatient  and  unaccus- 
tomed to  the  hard  journey,  they  sometimes  in  vexation 
wished  themselves  back  in  Egypt,  with  the  food  left 
there,  such  as  garlic,  onions,  leeks  and  flesh-pots,  they 
still  entirely  forgot  such  complaints  when  they  had  come 
into  the  promised  land  and  had  tasted  its  luscious  fruits: 
thus  also  some  among  us  leapt  and  jumped  unseemly  at 
the  first  spurring  —  as  still  some  do  now,  who  like  a  horse 
neither  are  able  nor  ought  to  rid  themselves  of  the  spur 
of  the  Gospel  ; —  still,  in  time  they  have  become  so 
tractable  and  so  accustomed  to  the  salt  and  good  fruit 
of  the  Gospel,  which  they  find  abundantly  in  it,  that 
they  not  only  avoid  the  former  darkness,  labour,  food  and 
yoke  of  Egypt,  but  also  are  vexed  with  all  brothers, 
that  is,  Christians,  wherever  they  do  not  venture  to  make 
free  use  of  Christian  liberty.  And  in  order  to  show 
this,  some  have  issued  German  poems,  some  have  en- 
tered into  friendly  talks  and  discussions  in  public  rooms 
and  at  gatherings  ;  some  now  at  last  during  this  fast — 
and  it  was  their  opinion  that  no  one  else  could  be 
offended  by  it  —  at  home,  and  when  they  were  together, 
have  eaten  meat,  eggs,  cheese,  and  other  food  hitherto 
unused  in  fasts.  But  this  opinion  of  theirs  was  wrong  ; 
for  some  were  offended,  and  that,  too,  from  simple  good 
intentions  ;  and  others,  not  from  love  of  God  or  of  His 
commands  (as  far  as  I  can  judge),  but  that  they  might  re- 
ject that  which  teaches  and  warns  common  men,  and 
they  that  might  not  agree  with  their  opinions,  acted  as 
though  they  were  injured  and  offended,  in  order  that 
they  might  increase  the  discord.  The  third  part  of  the 
hypocrites  of  a  false  spirit  did  the  same,  and  secretly 
excited   the  civil  authorities,   saying  that    such    things 


4o6  Huldreich  Zwingli 

neither  should  nor  would  be  allowed,  that  it  would  destroy 
the  fasts,  just  as  though  they  never  could  fast,  if  the 
poor  labourer,  at  this  time  of  spring,  having  to  bear  most 
heavily  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day,  ate  such  food 
for  the  support  of  his  body  and  on  account  of  his  work. 
Indeed,  all  these  have  so  troubled  the  matter  and  made 
it  worse,  that  the  honourable  Council  of  our  city  was 
obliged  to  attend  to  the  matter.  And  when  the  pre- 
viously mentioned  evangelically  instructed  people  found 
that  they  were  likely  to  be  punished,  it  was  their  pur- 
pose to  protect  themselves  by  means  of  the  Scriptures, 
which,  however,  not  one  of  the  Council  had  been  wise 
enough  to  understand,  so  that  he  could  accept  or  reject 
them.  What  should  I  do,  as  one  to  whom  the  care  of 
souls  and  the  Gospel  have  been  entrusted,  except  search 
the  Scriptures,  particularly  again,  and  bring  them  as  a 
light  into  this  darkness  of  error,  so  that  no  one,  from 
ignorance  or  lack  of  recognition,  injuring  or  attacking 
another  come  into  great  regret,  especially  since  those 
who  eat  are  not  Iriflers  or  clowns,  but  honest  folk  and  of 
good  conscience  .''  Wherefore,  it  would  stand  very  evil 
with  me,  that  I,  as  a  careless  shepherd  and  one  only  for 
the  sake  of  selfish  gain,  should  treat  the  sheep  entrusted 
to  my  care,  so  that  I  did  not  strengthen  the  weak  and 
protect  the  strong.  I  have  therefore  made  a  sermon 
about  the  choice  or  difference  of  food,  in  which  sermon 
nothing  but  the  Holy  Gospels  and  the  teachings  of  the 
Apostles  have  been  used,  which  greatly  delighted  the 
majority  and  emancipated  them.  But  those,  whose  mind 
and  conscience  is  defiled,  as  Paul  says  [Titus,  i.,  15],  it  only 
made  mad.  But  since  I  have  used  only  the  above-men- 
tioned Scriptures,  and  since  those  people  cry  out  none  the 
less  unfairly,  so  loud  that  their  cries  are  heard  elsewhere, 
and  since  they  that  hear  are  vexed  on  account  of  their 


Appendix  407 

simplicity  and  ignorance  of  the  matter,  it  seems  to  me 
to  be  necessary  to  explain  the  thing  from  the  Scriptures, 
so  that  everyone  depending  on  the  Divine  Scriptures 
may  maintain  himself  against  the  enemies  of  the  Script- 
ures. Wherefore,  read  and  understand  ;  open  the  eyes 
and  the  ears  of  the  heart,  and  hear  and  see  what  the 
Spirit  of  God  says  to  us. 

Firstly,  Christ  says,  Matthew,  xv.,  17,  what  goes  in  at 
the  mouth  defileth  not  the  man,  etc.  From  these  words 
anyone  can  see  that  no  food  can  defile  a  man,  providing 
it  is  taken  in  moderation  and  thankfulness.  That  this  is 
the  meaning,  is  showed  by  the  fact  that  the  Pharisees  be- 
came vexed  and  angry  at  the  word  as  it  stands,  because 
according  to  Jewish  law  they  took  great  account  of  the 
choice  of  food  and  abstinence,  all  of  which  regulations 
Christ  desired  to  do  away  with  in  the  New  Testament. 
These  words  of  Christ,  Mark  speaks  still  more  clearly, 
vii.,  15  :  "  There  is  nothing  from  without  a  man,  that 
entering  into  him  can  defile  him  ;  but  the  things  which 
come  out  from  him,  those  are  they  that  defile  the  man." 
So  the  meaning  of  Christ  is,  all  foods  are  alike  as  far  as 
defilement  goes  :  they  cannot  defile  at  all. 

Secondly,  as  it  is  written  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
X.,  10,  when  Peter  was  in  Joppa  (now  called  Japhet),  he 
went  one  day  upon  the  housetop  at  the  sixth  hour,  and 
desired  to  pray.  He  became  hungry  and  wished  to  eat  ; 
and  when  the  servants  were  making  ready,  he  fell  into  a 
trance  and  saw  heaven  opened  and  a  vessel  descending  as 
it  were  a  great  linen  cloth  held  together  by  the  four  cor- 
ners and  let  down  upon  earth,  in  which  cloth  were  all  four- 
footed  animals,  wild  beasts,  and  creeping  and  flying 
creatures.  Then  a  voice  spoke  to  him,  saying  :  "  Arise, 
Peter,  kill  and  eat."  But  Peter  said,  "  No,  Lord,  for  I 
have  never  eaten  forbidden  or  unclean  food."     Then 


4o8  Huldreich  Zwingli 

again  the  voice  spoke  to  him,  saying  :  "  What  God  has 
purified,  shalt  thou  not  consider  forbidden  or  unclean." 
Now,  God  has  made  all  things  clean,  and  has  not  forbid- 
den us  to  eat,  as  His  very  next  words  prove.  Why  do 
we  burden  ourselves  wilfully  with  fasts  ?  Here  answer 
might  be  made  :  This  miracle,  shown  to  Peter,  meant 
that  he  should  not  avoid  the  heathen,  but  them  also 
should  he  call  to  the  grace  of  the  Gospel,  and  therefore 
material  food  should  not  be  understood  here.  Answer  : 
All  miracles  that  God  has  performed,  although  symbol- 
ical in  meaning,  were  still  real  occurrences  and  events. 
As  when  Moses  struck  the  rock  with  his  staff  and  it  gave 
forth  water,  it  was  symbolical  of  the  true  Rock  of  Christ, 
from  which  flowed,  and  ever  shall  flow  for  us  all,  the  for- 
giveness of  sins  and  the  blessings  of  heavenly  gifts,  but 
none  the  less  was  the  rock  really  smitten  and  gave  forth 
water.  And  so  here,  although  this  miracle  was  symboli- 
cal, still  the  words  of  God's  voice  are  clear  :  What  God 
hath  cleansed,  shalt  thou  not  consider  unclean.  Until  I 
forget  these  words  I  shall  use  them. 

Thirdly,  Paul  writes  to  the  Corinthians,  (I.,  vi.,  12)  : 
"  All  things  are  lawful  unto  me,  but  all  things  are  not 
expedient :  all  things  are  lawful  for  me,  but  I  will  not 
be  brought  under  the  power  of  any.  Meats  for  the  belly 
and  the  belly  for  meats  :  but  God  shall  destroy  both  it 
and  them."  That  is,  to  me  are  all  things  free,  although 
some  things  are  rather  to  be  avoided,  in  case  they  offend 
my  neighbour  too  much.  (About  the  troubling  of  one's 
neighbour,  I  shall  speak  specially  later  on.)  And  there- 
fore no  one  can  take  from  me  my  freedom  and  bring  me 
under  his  authority.  Food  is  taken  into  the  belly  to 
sustain  life.  As  now  the  belly  and  the  food  are  both 
to  be  destroyed,  it  makes  no  difference  what  one  eats  or 
wherewith  one  nourishes  his  mortal  body. 


Appendix  409 

Fourthly,  Paul  says,  I.  Corinthians,  viii.,  8  :  "  But 
meat  commendeth  us  not  to  God  :  for  neither,  if  we  eat, 
are  we  the  better  ;  nor,  if  we  eat  not,  are  we  the  worse." 
This  word  Paul  speaks  of  the  food  which  was  offered  to 
the  idols,  not  now  of  daily  food.  Notice  this,  however, 
to  a  clearer  understanding.  At  the  time  when  Paul  wrote 
the  epistle,  there  were  still  many  unbelievers,  more  in- 
deed, it  seems  to  me,  than  Christians.  These  unbelievers 
offered  to  their  idols,  according  to  custom,  animals,  such 
as  calves,  sheep  and  also  other  forms  of  food  ;  but  at  these 
same  offerings,  a  great  part,  often  all,  was  given  to  eat  to 
those  that  made  the  offerings.  And  as  unbelievers  and 
Christians  lived  together,  the  Christians  were  often  in- 
vited to  partake  of  food  or  meat,  that  had  been  sacrificed 
to  the  honor  of  the  idols.  Then  some  of  the  Christians 
were  of  the  opinion,  that  it  was  not  proper  to  eat  this 
food  ;  but  others  thought  that,  if  they  ate  the  food  of  the 
idols,  but  did  not  believe  in  them,  such  food  could  not 
harm  them,  and  thought  themselves  stronger  in  their  be- 
lief, because  they  had  been  free  to  do  this  thing,  than 
those  who  from  faint-heartedness  and  hesitation  did  not 
venture  to  eat  all  kinds  of  food.  To  settle  this  differ- 
ence, Paul  uses  the  above  words  :  "  No  kind  of  food 
commends  us  to  God."  Even  if  one  eats  the  food  of  the 
idols,  he  is  not  less  worthy  before  God,  nor  yet  more 
worthy,  than  one  who  does  not  eat  it  ;  and  whoever  does 
not  eat  it  is  no  better.  Indeed  that  will  seem  very 
strange  to  you,  not  only  that  meat  is  not  forbidden,  but 
also  that  even  what  has  been  offered  to  idols  a  Christian 
may  eat. 

Fifthly,  Paul  says  in  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthi- 
ans, X.,  25  :  "  Whatsoever  is  sold  in  the  shambles,  that 
eat,  asking  no  questions  for  conscience  sake."  These 
words  are  clear  and  need  no  explanation,  except  that 


4 TO  Huldreich  Zwingli 

they  are  among  other  words  about  the  offence  caused  by 
the  food  of  idols.  But  do  not  let  yourself  err.  From 
the  pulpit  I  shall  speak  sufficiently  of  giving  offence,  and 
perhaps  more  clearly  than  you  have  ever  heard. 

Sixthly,  Paul  also  says,  Colossians,  ii.,  i6  :  "  No  man 
shall  judge  you  in  meat  or  in  drink,  or  in  respect  of  a 
holy  day."  Again  you  hear  that  you  are  to  judge  no 
man  either  as  good  or  bad  from  his  food  or  drink  ;  he 
may  eat  what  he  please.  If  one  will,  let  him  eat  refuse. 
Here  it  should  be  always  understood  that  we  are  speak- 
ing not  of  amount  but  of  kind.  As  far  as  kind  and  char- 
acter of  food  are  concerned,  we  may  eat  all  foods  to 
satisfy  the  needs  of  life,  but  not  with  immoderation  or 
greediness. 

Seventhly,  Paul  says  again,  I.  Timothy,  iv.,  i  :  "  Now 
the  Spirit  speaketh  expressly,  that  in  the  latter  times 
some  shall  depart  from  the  faith,  giving  heed  to  seducing 
spirits,  and  doctrines  of  devils  ;  speaking  lies  in  hypoc- 
risy ;  having  their  consciences  seared  with  a  hot  iron  ; 
forbidding  to  marry  and  commanding  to  abstain  from 
meats,  which  God  hath  created  to  be  received  with 
thanksgiving  of  them  which  believe  and  know  the  truth. 
For  every  creature  of  God  is  good,  and  nothing  to  be 
refused,  if  it  be  received  with  thanksgiving  :  for  it  is 
sanctified  by  the  word  of  God  and  of  prayer."  These 
are  all  the  words  of  Paul.  And  what  could  be  more 
clearly  said  ?  He  says  that  God's  Spirit  spoke  this  as  a 
warning,  that  they  might  withstand  this,  who  had  no 
fixed  strong  belief,  and  who  did  not  put  trust  in  God,  but 
in  their  own  works  which  they  themselves  chose  as  good. 
And  that  such  things  are  placed  in  them  by  seducing 
spirits  and  devils,  that  inspire  men  with  hypocrisy,  that 
is,  with  the  outward  form,  lead  men  away  from  trust  in 
God  to  confidence  in  themselves.      And  yet  the  same 


Appendix  4^1 

will  always  surely  realise  in  themselves,  that  they  act 
dishonourably  toward  God,  and  they  always  feel  the  pain 
of  it,  and  know  their  disgraceful  unfaitlifulness  in  that 
they  see  only  their  own  advantage  or  desire  and  greed 
of  heart.  Still  they  are  willing  to  sell  themselves,  as 
though  they  did  it  not  for  their  own  sakes,  but  for 
God's.  That  is  having  a  conscience  branded  on  the  cheek. 
Then  he  recounts  what  they  will  forbid  to  do  as  bad  : 
They  shall  not  enter  into  marriage  or  wed.  Know  too 
that  i)urity  so  disgracefully  preserved  had  its  original 
prohibition  from  the  devil,  which  prohibition  has  brought 
more  sin  into  the  world  than  the  abstinence  from  any 
food.  But  this  is  not  the  place  to  speak  of  that.  Like- 
wise it  is  forbidden  that  one  should  eat  this  or  that  food, 
which  God  created  for  the  good  and  sustenance  of  men. 
Look,  what  does  Paul  say  ?  Those  that  take  from  Christ- 
ians such  freedom  by  their  prohibition  are  inspired  by 
the  devil.  "  Would  I  do  that  ? "  said  the  wolf,  as  the  raven 
sat  on  the  sow's  body.  Now  God  placed  all  things  un- 
der man  at  the  head  of  creation,  that  man  might  serve 
Him  alone.  And  although  certain  foods  are  forbidden 
in  the  Old  Testament,  they  are  on  the  contrary  made 
free  in  the  New,  as  the  words  of  Mark,  vii.,  15,  clearly 
show,  quoted  in  the  first  article  above,  as  also  Luke, 
xvi.,  15.  "  For  that  which  is  highly  esteemed  among 
men  is  an  abomination  in  the  sight  of  God."  The  law 
and  the  prophets  were  only  a  symbol,  or  have  lasted 
only  to  John.  Hear  now,  that  which  seemed  great  to 
men  was  detested  by  God  (the  word  is  abominatio),  and 
as  far  as  the  law  is  ceremonial  and  to  be  used  at  court, 
it  has  been  superseded.  Hear  then  that  whatever  a  man 
eats  cannot  make  him  evil,  if  it  is  eaten  in  thankfulness. 
Notice  that  propo-r  thankfulness  consists  in  this,  that  a 
man  firmly    believe   that   all   our   food  and  living  are 


412  Huldreich  Zwingli 

determined  and  continued  by  God  alone,  and  that  a  man 
be  grateful  for  it ;  for  we  are  more  worthy  in  the  sight  of 
God  than  the  fowls  of  the  air  which  He  feeds  :  us  then 
without  doubt  He  will  feed.  But  the  greatest  thanks  is  a 
conscientious  recognition  that  all  our  necessities  are  pro- 
vided by  Him.     Of  these  words  nothing  further. 

Eighthly,  after  Paul  shows  Titus  (i.,  lo)  that  there  are 
many  disobedient,  many  vain  talkers  and  deceivers, 
which  one  must  overcome,  he  adds  :  "  Unto  the  pure  all 
things  are  pure  :  but  unto  them  that  are  defiled  and  unbe- 
lieving is  nothing  pure  ;  but  even  their  mind  and  con- 
science is  defiled."  Here  you  see  again  he  did  not  desire 
Jewish  wiles  heeded  ;  this  is  plainly  shown  by  the  words 
next  preceding,  where  he  says  :  "  Wherefore  rebuke  and 
punish  them  sharply  (of  course,  with  words),  that  they 
may  be  sound  in  the  faith,  not  listening  to  Jewish  fables 
and  human  commandments,  that  pervert  the  truth,"  But 
they  desired  to  draw  the  new  Christians  into  abstinence 
from  food,  pretending  that  some  food  was  unclean  and 
improper  to  eat  ;  but  Paul  showed  that  they  were  wrong, 
and  said  :  To  those  of  a  pure  belief,  all  things  are  pure, 
but  to  the  unbelievers  nothing  is  pure.  Cause  :  their 
hearts  and  consciences  are  defiled.  They  are  unbelievers 
that  think  the  salvation,  mercy  and  freedom  of  Christ  are 
not  so  great  and  broad  as  they  really  are,  as  Christ  chid 
His  disciples,  saying  that  they  were  of  little  faith,  Mat- 
thew, xvi.,  8,  and  vi.,  30.  In  these  passages  we  are  cer- 
tainly taught  that  we  are  not  only  fed  each  day  by  Him, 
but  also  controlled  and  instructed  with  fatherly  fidelity, 
if  we  console  ourselves  confidently  alone  in  His  word 
and  commands.  Wherefore  every  Christian  should  de- 
pend alone  upon  Him  and  believe  His  words  steadfastly. 
Now,  if  you  do  that,  then  you  will  not  believe  that  any 
food  can  defile  a  man  ;  and  if  you  surely  believe  it,  then 


Appendix  4^3 

it  is  surely  so,  for  His  words  cannot  deceive.  Accord- 
ingly all  things  are  pure  to  you.  Why  ?  You  believe, 
therefore  all  things  are  pure  to  you.  The  unbeliever  is 
impure.  Why  ?  He  has  a  doubting  heart,  which  either 
does  not  believe  the  greatness  and  freedom  of  God's 
mercy  or  does  not  believe  these  to  be  as  great  as  they 
are.  Therefore  he  doubts,  and  as  soon  as  he  doubts,  he 
sins,  according  to  Romans,  xiv.,  23. 

Ninthly,  Paul  says  to  the  Hebrews,  xiii.,  9:  "Be 
not  carried  about  with  divers  and  strange  doctrines.  For 
it  is  a  good  thing  that  the  heart  be  established  with  grace  ; 
not  with  meats,  which  have  not  profited  them  that  have 
been  occupied  therein."  In  these  words  see  first  that 
we  should  not  be  carried  about  with  many  kinds  of  doc- 
trines, also  that  without  doubt  or  suspicion  the  Holy 
Gospel  is  a  certain  doctrine,  with  which  we  can  console 
ourselves  and  on  which  we  can  surely  depend.  Accord- 
ingly it  is  best  to  establish  the  heart  with  grace.  Now  the 
Gospel  is  nothing  but  the  good  news  of  the  grace  of  God; 
on  this  we  should  rest  our  hearts,  that  is,  we  should  know 
the  grace  of  the  Gospel  to  be  so  certain  and  ready,  and 
trust  it,  so  that  we  may  establish  our  hearts  in  no  other 
doctrine,  and  not  trust  to  food,  that  is,  to  eating  or  ab- 
staining from  eating  (so  also  Chrysostora  takes  these 
words)  this  or  that  food;  for  that  such  oversight  and 
choice  of  food  was  not  of  profit  to  those  that  have  clung 
thereto  is  clear  enough. 

These  announcements  seem  to  me  to  be  enough  to 
prove  that  it  is  proper  for  a  Christian  to  eat  all  foods. 
But  a  heathen  argument  I  must  bring  forward  for  those 
that  are  better  read  in  Aristotle  than  in  the  Gospels  or  in 
Paul.  Tell  me  which  you  think  more  necessary  to  a 
man,  food  or  money  ?  I  think  you  will  say  that  food 
is  more  useful  than  money,  otherwise  we  should  die  of 


414  Huldreich  Zwingli 

liunger  with  our  money,  as  Midas  died,  who,  according 
to  the  poets,  desired  that  everything  he  touched  be  turned 
to  gold.  And  so  food  is  more  important  to  preserve  life 
than  money;  for  man  lived  on  food  before  money  was  in- 
vented. Now  Aristotle  says  that  money  is  indifferent, 
that  is,  it  is  neither  good  nor  bad  in  itself,  but  becomes 
good  or  bad  according  to  its  use,  whether  one  uses  it  in  a 
good  or  bad  way.  Much  more  then  is  food  neither  good 
nor  bad  in  itself  (which  I  however  for  the  present  omit), 
but  it  is  necessary  and  therefore  more  truly  good.  And 
it  can  never  become  bad,  except  as  it  is  used  immoder- 
ately; for  a  certain  time  does  not  make  it  bad,  but  rather 
the  abuse  of  men,  when  they  use  it  without  moderation 
and  belief. 

No  Christian  can  deny  these  arguments,  unless  he 
defends  himself  by  denying  the  Scriptures  :  He  is  then, 
however,  no  Christian,  because  he  does  not  believe  Christ- 
ian doctrine.  There  are  nevertheless  some  who  take  ex- 
ception to  this,  either  to  the  times,  or  the  fasting,  or 
human  prohibitions,  or  giving  offence  :  All  these  I  will 
answer  from  the  Scriptures  later  with  God's  help. 

At  first  then  they  object  to  the  time  :  Although  all 
things  are  pure,  still  they  are  not  so  at  all  times;  and 
so  during  the  fasts,  quarter  fasts,  Rogation-day  week, 
Shrove-Tuesday,  Friday  and  Saturday,  it  is  improper  to 
eat  meet.  During  fasts  also  eggs,  milk  and  milk  products 
are  not  proper.  Answer  :  I  do  not  say  that  these  are 
not  forbidden  by  men  ;  we  see  and  hear  that  daily.  But 
all  of  my  efforts  are  directed  against  this  assumption, 
that  we  are  restrained  at  this  and  that  time  by  divine 
law.  Let  each  one  fast  as  often  as  the  spirit  of 
true  belief  urges  him.  But  in  order  to  see  that  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  Christ  we  are  free  at  all  times,  consider 
as  follows  : 


Appendix  415 

First,  Mark,  ii.,  23,  once  when  Christ  was  going  through 
the  cornfields.  His  disciples  began  to  pluck  the  ears 
(and  eat).  But  the  Pharisees  said  to  Him  :  "  Lo, 
what  are  thy  disciples  doing  that  is  not  proper  on  the 
Sabbath  day  ? "  And  Christ  said  to  them  :  "  Have  ye 
not  read  what  David  did  when  he  had  need,  when  he 
and  they  with  him  were  hungry  ;  how  in  the  days  of 
Abiathar,  the  high  priest,  he  went  into  the  house  of  God 
and  ate  the  bread  that  was  offered  to  God,  which  it  was 
improper  for  anyone  to  eat  but  the  priests,  and  gave 
also  to  those  with  him,  saying  to  them,  the  Sabbath  was 
made  for  man  and  not  man  for  the  Sabbath  ?  Therefore 
the  Son  of  man  is  also  Lord  of  the  Sabbath."  Notice 
here  that  need  is  superior  not  only  to  human  but  also  to 
divine  law  ;  for  observing  the  Sabbath  is  divine  law. 
And  still  the  hunger  of  the  disciples  did  not  observe  the 
Sabbath.  Notice  again  that  no  place  withstands  need, 
and  that  David  in  need  might  go  into  the  temple.  No- 
tice also  that  the  matter  of  persons  is  not  respected  in 
need  ;  for  David  and  his  followers  were  not  priests,  but 
ate  the  food  proper  only  for  priests  to  eat.  This  I  show 
you  now  that  you  may  learn  that  what  is  said  of  one  cir- 
cumstance is  said  in  common  of  all  circumstances  in  the 
Scriptures,  if  anything  depends  on  circumstances  or  is 
deduced  from  circumstances.  Circumstances  are  where, 
when,  how,  the  person,  or  about  whom.  Thus  Christ 
says,  Matthew,  xxiv.,  23  :  "Then  if  any  man  shall  say 
unto  you,  Lo,  here  is  Christ,  or  there ;  believe  it  not." 
See,  this  is  the  circumstance  where,  or  the  place.  The 
meaning  is  that  God  is  not  revealed  more  in  one  place 
than  in  another.  Indeed,  when  the  false  prophets  say 
that,  one  is  not  to  believe  them.  In  this  way  you  should 
understand  the  circumstance  of  time,  and  other  circum- 
stances, that  not  more  at  one  time  than  at  another  God 


41 6  Huldreich  Zwingli 

is  revealed  as  merciful  or  as  wroth,  but  at  all  times  alike. 
Else  He  would  be  subject  to  the  times  which  we  had 
chosen,  and  He  would  be  changeable  who  suffers  no 
change.  So  also  of  the  matter  of  persons  ;  for  God  is 
not  more  ready  or  open  in  mercy  and  grace  to  a  person 
of  gentle  birth  than  to  the  base  born,  as  the  holy  Paul 
says,  Acts,  x.,  34  :  "  Of  a  truth  I  perceive  that  God  is 
no  respecter  of  persons."  But  we  do  not  need  this 
proof  here,  where  we  wish  to  prove  that  all  time  is  free 
to  men.  For  the  words  of  Christ  are  of  themselves 
clear  enough,  when  He  says  :  the  Sabbath  is  made  for 
man  and  not  man  for  the  Sabbath;  the  Sabbath  is  in  the 
power  of  man,  not  man  in  the  power  of  the  Sabbath. 
In  a  word,  the  Sabbath  and  all  time  are  subject  to  man, 
not  man  to  the  Sabbath.  Now  if  it  is  true  that  the  Sab- 
bath which  God  established  is  to  be  subject  to  us,  then 
much  more  the  time  which  men  have  imposed  upon  us. 
Indeed,  not  only  the  time  but  also  the  persons,  that  have 
thus  fixed  and  established  these  particular  times,  are 
none  other  than  the  servants  of  Christ  and  co-workers 
in  the  secret  things  of  God,  not  revealed  to  men.  And 
these  same  co-workers  should  not  rule  Christians,  com- 
manding as  over-lords,  but  should  be  ready  only  for 
their  service  and  for  their  good.  Therefore  Paul  says, 
I.  Cor.,  vii.,  35  :  "  I  say  this  for  your  good,  not  that  I 
would  put  a  noose  about  your  necks,  that  is,  I  would 
not  seize  and  compel  you  with  a  command."  Again  he 
speaks,  I.  Cor.,  iii.,  21  :  "  All  things  are  your's  ;  whether 
Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Peter,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or 
death,  or  things  present,  or  things  to  come  ;  all  are 
your's."  Here  you  see  that  all  things  are  intended  for 
men  or  for  the  service  of  men,  not  for  their  oppression, 
yes,  the  Apostles  themselves  are  for  men,  not  men  for 
the  Apostles.      O  overflowing  spring  of  God's  mercy  ! 


Appendix  4^7 

how  well  Paul  speaks  when  he  says,  that  these  things  are 
known  but  through  the  Spirit  of  God.  Therefore  we 
have  not  received  the  spirit  of  this  world,  but  the  spirit 
that  is  from  God,  because  we  see  what  great  things  are 
given  us  by  God.  You  know  your  liberty  too  little. 
Cause :  the  false  prophets  have  not  told  you,  preferring 
to  lead  you  about  rather  as  a  pig  tied  with  a  string  ;  and 
we  poor  sinners  cannot  be  led  to  the  love  of  God  any 
other  way  but  by  being  taught  to  summon  unto  ourselves 
the  Spirit  of  God,  so  that  we  may  know  the  great  things 
which  God  has  given  us.  For  who  could  but  be  thank- 
ful to  God,  so  kind,  and  who  could  but  be  drawn  into  a 
wonderful  love  of  Him?  Here  notice  too  that  it  is  not 
the  intention  of  Christ,  that  man  should  not  keep  the 
Sabbath  (for  us  Christians  Sunday  is  ordained  as  the 
Sabbath)  but  where  our  use  or  need  requires  something 
else,  the  Sabbath  itself,  not  only  other  times,  shall  be 
subject  to  us.  Here  you  are  not  to  understand  either  the 
extreme  necessity,  in  which  one  would  be  near  death,  as 
the  mistaken  theologists  dream,  but  ordinary  daily  neces- 
sity. For  the  disciples  of  Christ  were  not  suffering 
extreme  necessity,  when  on  the  Sabbath  day  they 
plucked  the  ears,  else  they  would  not  have  answered 
Christ  as  they  did,  when  He  asked  them,  Luke,  xxii., 
35:  "  When  I  sent  you  without  purse  and  scrip,  lacked 
ye  anything?"  For  the  disciples  answered:  "Noth- 
ing." From  this  we  understand  that  Christ  never 
allowed  His  disciples  to  fall  into  such  dire  extremity, 
but  that  the  need,  which  they  felt  on  Sunday,  was  noth- 
ing but  ordinary  hunger,  as  also  the  word  "  need  "  as  we 
use  it  does  not  mean  the  last  stages  of  necessity,  but  has 
the  usual  meaning  ;  as  when  one  says,  "  I  have  need," 
he  does  not  refer  to  the  last  or  greatest  want,  but  to  a 
sufficiency  of  that  which  daily  need  demands.     Then  as 


41 8  Huldreich  Zwingli 

far  as  time  is  concerned,  the  need  and  use  of  all  food  are 
free,  so  that  whatever  food  our  daily  necessity  requires, 
we  may  use  at  all  times  and  on  all  days,  for  time  shall 
be  subject  to  us. 

Secondly,  Christ  says,  Luke,  xvii.,  20  :  "  The  kingdom 
of  God  cometh  not  with  observation  :  neither  shall  they 
say,  Lo  !  here,  lo  !  there."  This  word  observation,  Latin 
observatio,  has  this  meaning,  as  if  one  carefully  watched 
over  something  that  had  its  time  and  moment,  and  if 
one  did  not  take  it  then,  it  would  pass  away,  as  fisher- 
men and  fowlers  usually  watch,  because  fish  and  fowl 
have  certain  times  and  are  not  always  to  be  caught.  Not 
thus  the  kingdom  of  God,  for  it  will  not  come  with 
observation  of  time  or  place.  Since  now  the  mistaken 
theologists  say  that  we  ourselves  deserve  the  kingdom 
of  God  with  our  works,  which  we  choose  of  our  own  free 
will  and  complete  according  to  our  powers,  the  words  of 
Christ,  who  cannot  lie,  answer:  if  the  kingdom  of  God 
cometh  not  with  observation  or  watching  (of  time,  or 
place,  or  of  all  circumstances,  as  is  proved  in  the  above 
paragraph)  and  if  at  any  time  the  prohibiting  of  the  food 
which  God  has  left  free  is  nothing  else  but  observation, 
then  the  kingdom  of  God  will  never  be  made  ready  by 
the  prohibition  of  food.  Now  it  must  be  that  abstinence 
cannot  avail  anything  as  to  time,  and  you  are  always  to 
understand  that  it  is  not  our  intention  to  speak  here  of 
amount,  but  only  of  kind,  neither  of  the  times  which 
God  hath  set,  but  of  those  which  men  have  established. 

Thirdly,  Paul  writes  to  the  Galatians,  iv.,  9:  "  But 
now  after  ye  have  known  God,  how  turn  ye  again  to  the 
weak  and  beggarly  elements,  whereunto  ye  deserve  to 
be  again  in  bondage  ?  You  have  expectation,  or  you 
keep  day  and  month,  time  and  year."  Here  you  hear 
the  anger  of  Paul  at  the  Galatians,  because  after  they 


Appendix  4^9 

had  learned  and  known  God  (which  is  nothing  else  but 
being  known  or  enlightened  of  God),  they  still  returned 
to  the  elements,  which  he  more  closely  describes  in 
Colossians,  ii.,  20.  But  since  we  must  use  these  words 
later  more  accurately  and  must  explain  them,  we  shall 
now  pass  them  over,  satisfying  ourselves  with  knowing 
what  the  weak  elements  are.  In  Latin  and  Greek  the 
letters  were  called  elements,  for  the  reason  that,  as  all 
things  are  made  up  and  composed  of  elements,  so  also 
each  word  was  made  of  letters.  Now  the  Jews  and 
heathen  have  always  clung  closely  to  the  letter  of  the 
law,  which  oppresses  much,  indeed  kills,  as  Paul  says. 
Not  only  in  the  Old  Testament,  but  also  in  the  New,  it 
oppresses  much.  Is  that  not  a  severe  word  which  is 
found  in  Matthew,  v.,  22  ?  "But  I  say  unto  you,  that 
whosoever  is  angry  with  his  brother  shall  be  in  danger 
of  the  judgment."  So  it  is,  if  taken  literally,  indeed 
impossible  for  us  weak  mortals  to  keep.  And  therefore 
Christ  has  given  it  to  us  that  we  might  recognise  our 
shortcomings  therein,  and  then  take  refuge  alone  in 
Him,  who  mercifully  pitied  our  shortcomings  when  He 
said,  Matthew  xi.,  28  :  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that 
labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 

But  whoever  does  not  know  and  will  not  know  this 
narrow  way  to  the  mercy  of  God  through  Christ,  under- 
takes with  his  own  powers  to  fulfil  the  law,  sees  only 
the  letter  of  the  law  and  desires  with  his  might  to  fulfil 
that,  prescribing  for  himself  this  and  that  chastisement 
and  abstinence  at  certain  times,  places,  and  under  other 
circumstances,  and  after  all  that  he  still  does  not  fulfil 
the  law,  but  the  more  he  prides  himself  on  having  ful- 
filled the  law,  the  less  he  has  fulfilled  it,  for  in  his  in- 
dustry he  becomes  puffed  up  in  himself.  As  the  Pharisee, 
that  boasted  of  the  elements,  that  is,  of  the  works  which 


420  Huldreich  Zwingli 

he  had  literally  fulfilled,  said,  **  I  thank  thee,  O  God, 
that  I  am  not  as  other  men  are  ;  I  fast,  etc."  Con- 
sider the  over-wise  piety  that  exalts  itself  at  once  above 
other  men,  from  no  other  reason  than  that  according  to 
his  advice  or  opinion,  and  powers,  he  is  confident  to 
have  fulfilled  the  law  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  consider 
the  publican  hoping  for  nothing  but  the  rich  mercy  of 
God,  and  counting  his  own  works  nothing,  but  only  say- 
ing :  "  O  God,  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner  !  "  Is  not, 
then,  the  publican  considered  more  righteous  before 
God  than  the  Pharisee  ?  From  all  this  you  see  that  the 
weak  elements  are  nothing  else  than  human  wisdom  and 
conception  of  happiness,  for  man  either  purposes  to 
wish  and  to  be  able  to  keep  the  letter  of  the  law  or  else 
prescribes  for  himself  some  work  to  do,  which  God  has 
not  commanded  but  left  free,  and  therefore  likes  to  think 
the  works  prescribed  by  himself  to  be  a  sure  road  to 
blessedness,  and  clings  to  his  opinion  to  his  own  injury. 
And  for  just  this  reason  Paul  complains  of  the  Gala- 
tians,  that  having  been  mercifully  enlightened  of  God 
they  turned  again  to  their  own  devices,  that  is,  to  the 
weak  elements,  to  which  the  Jews  and  heathen  held,  and 
had  not  so  strong  a  belief  in  God,  that  they  trusted 
alone  in  Him  and  hoped  alone  in  Him,  listened  alone  to 
His  ordinances  and  will,  but  foolishly  turned  again  to 
the  devices  of  men,  who,  as  though  they  desired  to  im- 
prove what  had  been  neglected  by  God,  said  to  them- 
selves :  "This  day,  this  month,  this  time,  wilt  thou 
abstain  from  this  or  that,"  and  make  thus  ordinances, 
persuading  themselves  that  he  sins  who  does  not  keep 
them.  This  abstaining  I  do  not  wish  to  condemn,  if  it 
occurs  freely,  to  put  the  flesh  under  control,  and  if  no 
self-confidence  or  vainglory,  but  rather  luimility,  results. 
See,  that  is  branding  and  injuring  one's  own  conscience 


Appendix  421 

capriciously,  and  is  turning  toward  true  idolatry,  and  is, 
as  David  says,  Psalm  Ixxxi.,  12,  walking  in  one's  own 
counsels.  But  this  God  desired  to  prevent  by  the  words 
of  David,  who  says  :  "  Hear,  O  my  people,  I  will  tes- 
tify unto  thee,  Israel  (that  is,  he  sees  God  and  trusts 
Him  so  thoroughly  that  he  is  possessed  of  Him)  ;  if 
thou  wilt  hearken  unto  me  ;  there  shall  no  strange  god 
be  in  thee  ;  neither  shalt  thou  worship  any  strange  god. 
I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  which  brought  thee  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt :  open  thy  mouth,  and  I  will  fill  or  satisfy 
it.  But  my  people  did  not  hear  my  voice,  and  Israel 
(that  is,  that  which  should  be  Israel)  did  not  hearken 
to  me,  and  I  left  them  to  their  own  desires,  and  they 
will  walk  in  their  own  counsels."  O  Christian  of  right 
belief,  consider  these  words  well,  ponder  them  carefully, 
and  you  will  see  that  God  desires  that  we  hearken  to 
Him  alone  !  If  now  we  are  thoroughly  imbued  with 
Him,  no  new  god  will  be  honoured  within  our  hearts,  no 
man  instead  of  God,  no  feeling  of  our  own  instead  of 
God.  But  if  we  do  not  hear  the  true  warnings  of  God, 
He  will  let  us  walk  according  to  the  desires  and  devices 
of  our  own  hearts.  Do  we  not  see  that  consolation 
oftener  is  sought  in  human  hearts  than  in  God  ;  that 
they  are  more  severely  punished  who  transgress  human 
laws  than  those  who  not  only  transgress  but  also  despise 
and  reject  God's  laws  ?  Lo,  these  are  the  new  idols 
which  we  have  cast  and  chiseled  in  our  hearts.  Enough 
has  now  been  said  about  these  words  of  Paul,  and  it  is 
authority  enough  to  prove  that  we  are  as  little  forbidden 
by  God  to  eat  at  certain  times  as  we  are  now  forbidden 
by  Him  to  eat  certain  sorts  and  kinds  of  food. 

They  will  now  raise  as  objections  the  fasts,  or  all  fast 
days,  saying  that  people  will  never  fast  if  they  are  al- 
lowed to  eat  meat.    Answer  :  Have  you  heretofore  fasted 


422  Huldreich  Zwingli 

because  you  were  not  allowed  to  eat  meat,  as  naughty 
children  that  will  not  eat  their  broth,  because  they  are 
not  given  meat  ?  If  anyone  desires  to  fast,  has  he  not 
as  much  the  power  to  do  so,  when  labourers  eat  meat,  as 
when  they  are  forced  to  fast  with  the  idle,  and  are  thus 
less  able  to  do  and  to  endure  their  labours?  In  a  word, 
if  you  will  fast,  do  so  ;  if  you  do  not  wish  to  eat  meat, 
eat  it  not ;  but  leave  Christians  a  free  choice  in  the 
matter.  You  are  an  idler,  should  fast  often,  should 
often  abstain  from  foods  that  make  you  lustful.  But 
the  labourers'  lusts  pass  away  at  the  hoe  and  plough  in 
the  field.  You  say,  the  idle  will  eat  meat  without  need. 
Answer  :  The  very  same  fill  themselves  with  still  richer 
foods,  that  excite  more  than  the  highly  seasoned  and 
spiced.  And  if  they  complain  of  the  breaking  up  of 
the  custom  [of  fasting],  it  is  nothing  but  envy,  because 
they  dislike  to  see  that  considered  proper  for  common 
men,  for  which  they  can  well  find  a  substitute  without 
difficulty  and  without  weakening  the  body,  on  the  con- 
trary, even  with  pleasure  ;  for  fish  eating  is  surely  every- 
where a  pleasure.  You  say  that  many  cannot  endure 
this  liberty  in  eating,  not  from  envy,  but  from  fear  of 
God.  Answer  :  O  you  foolish  hypocrites,  do  you 
think  that  there  is  danger  and  injury  in  what  God  has 
left  free?  If  there  were  in  it  danger  to  the  soul  God 
would  not  have  left  it  unforbidden.  Likewise,  if  you 
are  so  concerned  about  others,  as  to  what  they  should 
not  eat,  why  will  you  not  note  their  poverty  and  aid  it  ? 
If  you  would  have  a  Christian  heart,  act  to  it  then.  If 
the  spirit  of  your  belief  teaches  you  thus,  then  fast,  but 
grant  also  your  neighbour  the  privilege  of  Christian  lib- 
erty, and  fear  God  greatly,  if  you  have  transgressed  His 
laws,  nor  make  what  man  has  invented  greater  before 
God  than  what  God  Himself  hath  commanded,  or  again 


Appendix  423 

I  will  turn  out  a  hypocrite  of  you,  if  you  are  such  a 
knotty  block,  twisted  in  yourself  and  depending  upon 
your  own  devices. 

Concerning  the  Commandment  of  Men. 

Here  the  first  difficulty  will  occur,  when  one  speaks  to 
those  who  complaining  ask  :  Is  one  to  let  go  the  ordi- 
nances of  our  pious  fathers  ?  Where  have  the  Fathers  or 
the  Councils  forbidden  the  use  of  meat  during  fasts  ? 
They  can  show  no  Council,  but  they  come  forward  with 
the  fasts  :  referring  to  canonical  law.     De  Con.  di.,  v.,  40. 

Is  one  not  to  keep  the  feasts  ?  Answer  :  Who  says  or 
teaches  that  ?  If  you  are  not  content  with  the  fasts,  then 
fast  also  Shrovetide.  Indeed,  I  say  that  it  is  a  good  thing 
for  a  man  to  fast,  if  he  fasts  as  fasts  are  taught  by  Christ  : 
Matthew,  vi.,  16,  and  Isaiah,  Iviii.,  6.  But  show  me  on  the 
authority  of  the  Scriptures  that  one  cannot  fast  with  meat. 
Even  if  it  could  be  shown,  as  it  cannot,  still  you  know 
very  well  that  labourers  are  relieved  of  the  burden  of  fast- 
ing, according  to  your  laws.  Here  I  demand  of  you  to 
show  me  where  meat  is  forbidden  to  him  not  under  obli- 
gation to  fast.  Thus  they  turn  away  from  the  observance 
of  the  fast,  and  at  last  they  all  come  to  the  canonical  law. 
fourth  chapter,  "  Denique,  etc.,"  and  when  you  ask  for  a 
waggon,  they  offer  you  a  chopping-knife.'  The  chapter 
beginning  "  Denique"  does  not  command  you  to  forbid 
laymen  to  eat  meat ;  it  shows  that  at  these  same  times 
the  laymen  fill  themselves  with  meat  on  the  Sundays  in 
the  fast  more  than  on  other  days.  You  hear,  more  than 
on  other  days  :  Thus  they  eat  meat  on  other  days,  but 
that  they  keep  it  up  on  Sundays  till  midnight,  troubles 
Gregory  ;  still  he  says  that  they  are  not  to  be  forced  from 
this  custom,  lest  they  do  worse.     But  the  priests  and  the 


424  Huldreich  Zwingli 

deacons  he  recommends  to  abstinence  from  meat,  eggs, 
and  cheese — read  this  well  and  with  judgment  and  you 
will  find  this  rather  against  you  than  for  you.  After  that 
they  come  with  Thomas  Aquinas,  as  though  one  single 
mendicant  monk  had  power  to  prescribe  laws  for  all 
Christian  folk.  Finally  they  must  help  themselves  out 
with  custom,  and  they  consider  abstinence  from  food  to 
be  a  custom.  How  old  the  custom  is  supposed  to  be,  we 
cannot  really  know,  especially  with  regard  to  meat,  but 
of  abstinence  from  eggs  the  custom  cannot  be  so  very 
old,  for  some  nations  even  to-day  eat  eggs  without  per- 
mission from  Rome,  as  in  Austria  and  elsewhere.  Milk 
food  became  a  sin  in  the  Swiss  Confederation  in  the  last 
century  and  was  again  forgiven.  And  since  I  have 
chanced  upon  this  matter,  I  must  show  you  a  pretty  piece 
of  business,  so  that  you  may  protect  yourselves  thus  from 
the  greed  of  the  powerful  clergy.  Our  dear  fellow  Swiss 
purchased  the  privilege  of  using  milk  food  from  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  in  the  last  century  :  Proof,  the  docu- 
ments about  it  at  Lucern.  Go  back  now  before  the  time 
of  these  letters  and  think  what  our  forefathers  ate  before 
the  indulgence,  and  you  cannot  say  that  they  ate  oil,  for 
in  the  Bull  the  complaint  was  made  that  people  in  our 
country  are  not  accustomed  to  eat  oil,  that  they  ate  the 
foods  usual  there,  milk,  whey,  cheese,  and  butter.  Now 
if  that  was  a  sin,  why  did  the  Roman  bishops  watch  so 
lazily  that  they  allowed  them  to  eat  these  fourteen  hun- 
dred years  ?  If  it  is  not  a  sin,  as  it  is  not,  why  did  they 
demand  money  to  permit  it  ?  Say  rather  this,  I  see  that  it 
is  nothing  but  air,  see  that  the  Roman  bishops  announced 
that  it  was  a  sin,  when  it  became  money  to  them  :  Proof, 
as  soon  as  they  announced  it  as  a  sin,  they  immediately 
sold  it  for  money,  and  thus  abused  our  simplicity,  when 
we  ought  fairly  to  have  seen,  that,  if  it  was  sin  according 


Appendix  425 

to  God's  law,  no  man  can  remit  it,  any  more  than  that 
one  might  murder  a  man,  which  is  forbidden  by  divine 
law,  could  be  permitted  by  anyone,  although  many  dis- 
tasteful sins  of  this  kind  are  committed.  From  all  these 
remarks  you  notice  also  that  abstinence  from  meat  and 
drink  is  an  old  custom,  which  however  later  by  the 
wickedness  of  some  of  the  clergy  became  to  be  viewed 
as  a  command.  So  if  the  custom  is  not  bad  or  dishonour- 
able, one  is  to  keep  it  properly,  as  long  and  as  thoroughly 
as  the  greater  part  of  men  might  be  offended  by  its 
infringement.  Answer :  This  will  take  a  longer  time, 
therefore  I  shall  speak  now  of  offence  or  vexation. 

Of  Offence  or   Vexation. 

Offence  or  vexation,  Greek,  skandalon,  is  understood 
in  two  ways  :  first,  when  one  offends  others,  so  that  they 
sin  in  judgment  or  decision,  and  become  worse  ;  and  of 
these  we  desire  to  speak  first  ;  second,  offence  occurs, 
although  not  in  the  Scriptures,  but  here  as  accepted  by 
us,  when  a  man  in  himself  becomes  more  sinful  or  worse, 
or  when  a  whole  parish  is  purposely  brought  into  a  worse 
condition. 

Firstly,  Christian  love  demands  that  everyone  avoid 
that  which  can  offend  or  vex  his  neighbour,  in  so  far, 
however,  as  it  does  not  injure  the  faith,  of  course  you 
are  to  understand.  Since  the  Gospel  has  been  preached 
frequently  in  these  years,  many  have  therefore  become 
better  and  more  God-fearing,  but  many  on  the  contrary 
have  become  worse.  And  since  there  is  much  opposition 
to  their  bad  opinion  and  plans,  they  attack  the  Gospel, 
which  attacks  the  good  cannot  endure  but  oppose.  From 
which  reason  the  bad  cry  out  saying  :  I  wish  the  Gos- 
pel were  not  preached.     It  sets  us  at  variance  among 


426  Huldreich  Zwingli 

ourselves.  Here  one  should  not  yield  for  that  reason, 
but  should  keep  close  before  his  eyes  what  Christ  says  : 
Matthew,  x.,  32:  "  Whosoever  therefore  shall  confess  me 
before  men,  him  will  I  confess  also  before  my  Father 
which  is  in  Heaven.  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  send 
peace  on  earth  (understand  by  this,  peace  with  the  God- 
less or  sinful)  :  I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword. 
For  I  am  come  to  set  a  man  at  variance  against  his 
father,  and  the  daughter  against  her  mother,  and  the 
daughter-in-law  against  her  mother-in-law.  And  a 
man's  foes  shall  be  they  of  his  own  household." 

In  these  words  Christ  gives  us  strength  not  to  con- 
sider the  vexation  of  those  who  will  not  be  convinced  of 
the  truth;  and,  even  though  they  are  our  nearest  and 
dearest,  we  are  not  to  be  worried,  if  they  separate  from  us, 
as  He  says  later,  Matt.,  x.,  37:  "Whosoever  loves  father 
and  mother  more  than  me,  he  is  not  worthy  of  me  ;  who- 
ever loves  his  son  or  daughter  better  than  me,  he  is  not 
worthy  of  me,  and  whoever  does  not  take  his  cross  and  fol- 
low me,  he  is  not  worthy  of  me."  And  also  Luke,  xiv.,  26. 
So  wherever  it  is  a  matter  of  God's  honour,  of  the  belief 
or  of  hope  in  God,  we  should  suffer  all  things  rather  than 
allow  ourselves  to  be  forced  from  this.  But  where  a  thing 
cannot  harm  the  belief,  but  offends  one's  neighbour, 
although  it  is  not  a  sin,  one  should  still  spare  his  neigh- 
bour in  that  he  should  not  injure  him  ;  as  eatiag  meat  is 
not  forbidden  at  any  time  by  divine  law  ;  but,  where  it 
injures  or  offends  one's  neighbour,  one  should  not  eat  it 
without  cause.  One  should  make  those  of  little  faith 
strong  in  the  faith. 

But  when  one  (thirdly)  will  not  be  referred  to  the 
divine  truth  and  the  Scriptures,  when  one  says  :  "  I 
firmly  believe  that  Christ  has  never  forbidden  me  any 
food  at  any  time,"  and  when  the  one  of  little  faith  will  not 


Appendix  427 

grant  it  or  believe  it,  although  one  shows  him  the  Script- 
ures about  it  :  then  the  one  who  believes  in  liberty  shall 
not  yield  to  him,  although  he  should  yield  the  matter  of 
eating  meat  in  his  presence,  if  it  is  not  necessary  :  but  he 
should  cleave  to  the  Scriptures  and  not  let  the  sweet  yoke 
of  Christ  and  the  light  burden  become  bitter,  so  that  it 
may  not  be  unpleasant  to  men  or  please  them  less,  and 
thereby  show  that  it  is  a  human  and  not  a  divine  prohi- 
bi/:ion.  Thus  a  burgomaster  gives  an  answer,  in  the 
name  of  the  Council,  and  after  the  answer  adds  something 
harsh  and  hard,  which  the  council  did  not  command  him 
to  say  and  did  not  intend.  He  says:  "  This  I  say  of  my- 
self; the  Council  has  not  commanded  it.  ''  This  also,  all 
those  that  teach  in  God's  name  should  not  sell  their 
commands,  ordinances,  and  burdens  as  God's,  so  that  the 
yoke  of  His  mercy  should  not  become  unpleasant  to  any- 
one, but  should  leave  them  free.  Tha,':  I  shall  prove  by 
the  opinion  of  Christ:  Matthew,  xxiv.,  49,  and  Luke,  xii., 
45,  where  He  does  not  want  one  to  trouble  one's  fellow 
servants,  that  is  one's  fellow  Christians.  But  if  that  serv- 
ant say  maliciously  in  his  heart,  "  My  Lord  delayeth  his 
coming,  and  shall  begin  to  beat  his  fellow  servants  and  to 
eat  in  excess  and  to  drink  with  drunkards,  the  Lord  of 
that  servant  will  come  on  a  day  when  he  looketh  not  for 
him,  and  at  an  hour  when  he  is  not  watching,  and  will 
cut  him  in  sunder,  and  will  appoint  the  share  of  the  bad 
servant  to  the  Pharisees."  Here  open  your  eyes  and  see 
whether  the  servant,  to  whom  it  was  given  to  pasture  the 
sheep  of  Christ,  has  not  now  for  a  long  time  beaten  his 
fellow  servants,  that  is,  fellow  Christians;  whether  he  has 
not  eaten  and  drunk  excessively,  and,  as  though  there 
was  no  God,  run  riot,  and  troubled  Christians  with  great 
burdens  (I  speak  of  bad  bishoj^s  and  priests — take  it  not 
of  yourself,  pious  man)  so  that  the  sweet  yoke  of  Christ  has 


428  Huldreich  Zwingli 

become  to  all  Christians  a  bitter  herb.  On  the  other 
hand,  see  how  the  Lord  has  come  with  His  light  and 
illuminated  the  world  with  the  Gospel,  so  that  Christians, 
recognising  their  liberty,  will  not  let  themselves  be  led 
any  more  behind  the  stove  and  into  the  darkness  from 
which  a  schism  has  come  about,  so  that  we  really  see  that 
God  has  uncovered  the  Pharisees  and  hypocrites  and  has 
made  a  separate  division  of  them.  Yes,  in  that  case  I 
venture  to  command  you  to  fight  against  those  who  pre- 
fer to  keep  the  heavy  yoke  of  the  hypocrites  rather  than 
to  take  the  sweet  yoke  of  Christ  upon  themselves,  and  in 
thus  doing  to  be  careful  to  offend  no  one,  but,  as  much 
as  is  in  them,  to  keep  peace  with  all  men,  as  Paul  says. 
Not  everyone  can  do  this,  or  knows  how  far  to  yield  or 
to  make  use  of  Christian  liberty,  therefore  we  will  hear 
the  opinion  of  Paul  about  offence. 

Secondly,  Paul  teaches  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans, 
xiv.  and  xv.,  how  one  should  avoid  giving  offence  ;  these 
words  I  translate  into  German  and  give  more  according 
to  the  sense  than  the  letter.  Him,  he  says,  that  is  weak 
in  the  faith,  help,  but  do  not  lead  him  into  the  trouble  of 
still  greater  doubt.  One  believes  that  it  is  proper  for 
him  to  eat  all  things;  but  the  other,  weak  in  faith,  eats 
only  herbs.  Now  the  one  who  is  certain  that  he  may  eat 
all  things,  shall  not  despise  him  who  does  not  venture  to  do 
such  (understand,  from  little  faith);  andhe  who  ventures 
not  to  eat  all  things  shall  not  judge  the  eater,  for  God 
has  accepted  and  consoled  him.  You  weak  man,  who 
are  you  that  you  judge  another  man's  servant?  He  will 
stand  upright  or  fall  for  his  own  master,  still  he  will  be 
supported  or  held  up,  for  God  can  well  support  or  hold 
him  up.  One  man  esteems  one  day  above  another,  an- 
other esteems  all  days  alike.  Let  every  man  be  fully 
persuaded  in  his  own  mind,  that  he  who  regards  one  day 


Appendix  429 

above  another  may  do  so  to  the  honour  of  God,  and  that 
he  who  regards  not  one  day  above  another  does  the  same 
to  the  honour  of  God  (understand  that  he  has  so  strong  a 
faith  that  he  certainly  does  not  believe  himself  at  any 
time  freed  from  God's  rule,  for  the  greatest  honour  to  God 
is  to  recognise  Him  aright  and  those  things  which  are 
given  us  by  Him  :  John,  xvii.,  3,  and  I.  Corinthians,  ii., 
T2);  also  that  he  who  eats  all  kinds  of  food,  does  the 
same  to  the  honour  of  the  Lord,  for  he  gives  the  Lord 
thanks,  and  he  who  does  not  eat,  does  it  also  to  the  honour 
of  God,  and  is  also  thankful  to  God,  for  no  one  among 
us  lives  for  himself  or  dies  for  himself.  Whether  we 
live,  let  us  live  for  the  Lord,  or  whether  we  die,  let  us  die 
for  the  Lord  ;  and  therefore  whether  we  live  or  die,  we 
are  the  Lord's.  For  to  that  end  Christ  died,  arose,  and 
lived  again,  that  He  might  be  Lord  of  the  living  and  the 
dead.  But,  you  weak  man,  why  do  you  judge  your 
brother  ?  Or,  you  stronger  man  who  eat,  why  do  you 
despise  your  brother  ?  For  we  shall  all  stand  before  the 
judgment  seat  of  Christ.  For  it  is  written  in  Isaiah, 
xlv.,  23  :  "As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord,  to  me  shall  all 
knees  bow,  and  all  tongues  shall  confess  me,  who  am 
God."  Therefore  shall  each  one  of  us  render  God  an 
account.  Thus  let  us  not  judge  one  another,  but  be  this 
our  judgment,  that  no  one  displease  or  offend  his  brother. 
I  know  and  am  taught  in  Jesus  Christ  that  nothing  is  un- 
clean of  its  nature,  except  that  it  is  unclean  to  him  who 
considers  it  unclean.  But  if  your  brother  is  offended  or 
injured  on  account  of  food,  you  do  not  act  according  to 
love  (that  is,  you  do  not  give  up  the  food  which  injured 
your  brother  before  he  has  been  correctly  instructed). 
Vex  and  injure  and  offend  not  with  food  your  brother,  for 
whom  Christ  died,  and  in  return  your  goodness  (that  you 
do  all  things  in  your  faith,  you  eat,  you  keep  fast,  or  not) 


430  Huldreich  Zwingli 

shall  not  be  despised.  For  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not 
food  or  drink,  but  piety,  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Whoever  serves  Christ  in  these  things,  is  pleasing  to  God 
and  proved  before  men.  Let  us  then  strive  to  do  the 
things  which  lead  to  peace;  and  that  we  may  edify  one 
another  (that  is,  properly  instruct),  do  not  make  God's 
work  (piety,  peace,  and  joy,  as  is  written  above)  of  no 
avail  on  account  of  food.  All  things  are  clean,  but  it  is 
bad  that  a  man  eat  with  vexation  and  offence  as  a  result. 
It  is  proper  and  good  that  a  man  eat  no  meat  and  drink 
no  wine,  indeed  eat  nothing,  whereby  your  brother  is 
vexed  or  offended  or  whereby  he  is  ill.  You  who  are 
stronger,  if  you  have  faith,  have  it  in  you  before  God. 
Happy  is  he  who  does  not  doubt  that  which  he  considers 
certain;  but  whoever  doubts  and,  in  doubt,  eats  the  meat 
about  which  he  doubts,  he  is  condemned  ;  for  the  reason 
that  he  did  not  eat  from  belief;  for  what  is  done  not  in 
belief,  is  sin.  Also  thus  should  we,  who  are  strong  in 
belief,  be  patient  with  the  timidity  of  the  weak,  and  not 
please  ourselves,  but  each  of  us  please  his  neighbour  by 
edifying  and  doing  him  good  ;  for  Christ  did  not  please 
Himself,  but  as  it  is  written,  "  The  insults  of  those  who  re- 
vile you,  have  fallen  upon  me."  All  these  are  words  of 
Paul,  from  which  you  will  shortly  conclude  three  things. 
First,  that  he  who  firmly  believes  that  it  is  proper  for 
him  to  eat  all  things,  is  called  strong  ;  and  secondly,  that 
one  who  has  no  belief  is  called  timid  or  weak  ;  thirdly, 
that  the  strong  should  not  let  the  weak  remain  always 
weak,  but  should  take  him  and  instruct  him,  that  he  be- 
come also  strong,  and  should  yield  a  point  to  the  weak 
and  not  vex  him  maliciously.  How  we  are  to  yield  a 
point  to  the  weak,  you  shall  hear. 

Thirdly,  Paul  says  of  vexation,  I.  Corinthians,  viii.,  i, 
to  those  who  were  present ;  They  might  eat  of  that  which 


Appendix  43  ^ 

had  been  offered  to  the  idols,  for  this  reason.  They  well 
knew  they  believed  not  in  the  idols,  and  therefore  with- 
out soiling  their  consciences  they  might  eat  such  food,  in 
spite  of  those  who  were  badly  offended  by  it  ;  indeed  to 
them  he  speaks  thus  :  We  know  that  we  all  have  under- 
standing or  knowledge  of  the  food  which  is  offered  to 
the  idols.  Knowledge  puffeth  up  and  maketh  conceited, 
but  love  edifieth.  Here  Paul  means,  that  you,  although 
you,  a  man  firm  in  faith,  know  you  do  not  sin,  when  you 
eat  the  food  of  the  idols,  should,  if  you  love  your  neigh- 
bour, favor  him  fairly,  so  that  you  offend  him  not ;  and 
when  in  time  he  is  better  instructed,  he  will  be  greatly 
edified,  when  he  sees  that  your  Christian  love  overlooked 
his  ignorance  so  mercifully.  After  Paul  has  said  that 
those  well  taught  in  the  faith  know  well  there  is  no  idol, 
but  only  one  true  God  and  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  it  is 
further  mentioned  that  not  everyone  is  so  well  taught  as 
the  first  mentioned  ;  for  some  eat  the  food  of  the  idols 
in  such  manner  that  they  still  hold  to  them  somewhat, 
and  also  that  food  does  not  commend  us  to  God  (as  is 
shown  above  in  the  first  part  of  the  fourth  division). 
Indeed  after  all  that  he  says  further  :  See  that  your 
power  or  freedom  does  not  vex  the  weak,  for  if  one  of 
them  sees  you  sitting  knowingly  at  a  table  where  the  food 
of  idols  is  eaten,  will  not  his  conscience  be  strengthened 
or  encouraged  to  eat  the  food  of  idols  ?  And  then  your 
weak  brother  through  your  knowledge  and  understand- 
ing perishes,  for  whom  Christ  died.  See  how  strongly 
Paul  opposes  wanton  treatment  of  the  weak.  It  follows 
further  on  that  when  you  thus  sin  against  your  brethren, 
frightening  and  striking  their  weak  consciences,  you  sin 
against  Christ  ;  therefore,  if  food  offends  my  brother  I 
will  rather  never  eat  meat  than  that  I  make  my  brother 
offend.     Here  notice  that,  although  the  foregoing  words 


432  Huldreich  Zwingli 

are  spoken  of  the  food  of  idols,  they  still  show  us  in  a 
clear  way  how  we  should  conduct  ourselves  in  this  mat- 
ter of  food,  namely,  that  we  should  abstain  in  every  way 
from  making  to  offend,  and  that  he  is  not  without  sin, 
who  acts  against  his  brother,  for  he  acts  also  against 
Christ,  whose  brother  each  Christian  is.  But  you  say, 
"  What  if  my  brother  from  stubbornness  will  not  at  all  be 
taught,  but  always  remains  weak  ?  "  The  answer  will  fol- 
low in  the  last  part. 

Fourthly,  Paul  writes  in  the  above  mentioned  epistle, 
I.  Corinthians,  x.,  23  :  "All  things  are  lawful  for  me,  but 
all  do  not  result  in  usefulness."  Let  no  one  seek  his  own 
good,  let  each  seek,  that  is,  strive  for,  the  advantage  of 
the  other.  Eat  all  that  is  sold  in  the  shambles,  not  hesi- 
tating for  conscience'  sake  ;  for  the  earth  is  the  Lord's 
(as  it  reads  in  Psalm  xxiv.,  i),  and  all  the  fulness  of  the 
earth,  or  all  that  is  in  the  earth.  If  an  unbeliever  invites 
you  and  you  want  to  go  with  him,  eat  all  that  is  placed 
before  you  (that  is,  as  far  as  the  kind  of  food  is  con- 
cerned :  otherwise  he  would  be  a  faithless  glutton,  if  he 
ate  all)  not  doubting  for  conscience'  sake.  But  if  one 
said  to  you  :  "  That  is  from  the  sacrifice  to  the  idols," 
eat  it  not  for  the  sake  of  him  who  thus  points  it  out  to 
you,  and  for  conscience'  sake.  I  say  not  for  your  con- 
science' sake  but  for  the  sake  of  another's  conscience. 
For  why  is  my  liberty  judged  by  the  conscience  of 
another,  if  I  eat  with  gratitude  ?  Therefore,  whether  you 
eat  or  drink  or  whatever  you  do,  do  it  to  the  honour  of 
God  ;  do  not  offend  Jews  or  heathen  and  God's  Church, 
just  as  I  endeavour  to  please  all  men,  not  regarding 
myself,  but  the  many,  that  they  be  saved  ;  they  are  my 
followers  as  I  am  a  follower  of  Christ.  Here  you  see, 
first,  that  we  should  avoid  for  the  sake  of  another  what 
otherwise  would  be  i)roper  ;  secondly,  that  all  things  arc 


Appendix  433 

proper  for  us  to  eat,  that  are  sold  in  the  shambles,  with- 
out violence  to  the  conscience  ;  thirdly,  how  one  should 
act  about  eating  forbidden  food  after  the  manner  pre- 
scribed for  the  food  offered  to  idols  ;  for  although  our 
proposition  and  the  one  here  in  Paul  are  not  wholly 
alike,  still  a  good  rule  is  to  be  derived  therefrom  ; 
fourthly,  that  although  your  liberty  cannot  be  judged 
according  to  another's  conscience,  nor  you  yourself  con- 
demned, still  you  should  always  consider  the  honour  of 
God,  which  honour,  however,  grows  the  greater  among 
men,  if  they  see  you  for  the  sake  of  the  honour  of  God  not 
using  your  liberty  ;  fifthly,  that  all  things  can  take  place  to 
the  honour  of  God,  indeed  the  daily  custom  of  eating  and 
drinking,  of  working,  trading,  marrying,  if  a  man  cleaves 
to  God  in  all  his  doings,  and  trusts  that  he  is  called  to, 
and  chosen  for,  the  work  by  God.  And  do  not  let  this 
idea,  which  may  occur  to  you,  trouble  you  :  "  Then  I  will 
blaspheme,  gamble,  commit  adultery,  do  other  wrongs 
and  think  I  am  called  to  this  by  God."  For  such  things 
do  not  please  the  man  who  trusts  in  God.  The  tree  is 
now  good,  let  it  produce  only  good  fruit.  And  if  one 
lives  not  in  himself,  but  Christ  lives  in  him  so  thoroughly 
that,  although  a  mistake  escapes  him,  he  suffers  from  that 
hour  for  it,  he  is  ashamed  of  his  weakness.  But  those 
who  thus  speak  are  godless,  and  with  such  words  insult 
God  and  those  who  have  the  Spirit  of  God.  Listen  to  a 
striking  example.  No  respectable  and  pious  wife,  who 
has  a  good  husband,  can  allow  one  to  report  that  which 
is  dishonourable  to  her  husband  or  let  a  suspicion  arise  of 
a  misdeed,  which  she  knows  is  displeasing  to  him.  So 
man,  in  whom  God  rules,  although  weak,  still  cannot 
endure  to  be  shamefully  spoken  of  against  his  will.  But 
a  wanton  likes  to  hear  the  disgrace  of  her  husband  and 
what  is  against  him.     Thus  also  those,  who  speak  thus, 


434  Huldreich  Zwingli 

are  Godless  ;  otherwise,  if  they  had  God  in  their  hearts, 
they  would  not  willingly  hear  such  disgraceful  words. 

Fifthly,  Paul  had  Timothy  circumcised,  although  the 
circumcision  was  of  no  service,  still  that  he  might  not 
offend  the  Jews,  who  at  that  time  still  believed  that  one 
must  keep  the  Old  Testament  with  its  ceremonies  together 
with  the  New  Testament;  and  so  he  had  it  done,  as  it  is 
written  in  Acts,  xvi.,  3. 

Sixthly,  Christ  Himself  did  not  wish  to  offend  anyone  ; 
for,  when  at  Capernaum  Peter  was  asked,  Matthew, 
xvii.,  24,  whether  his  master  paid  tribute,  Peter  an- 
swered, "Yes."  And  after  they  had  entered  the  house, 
Christ  anticipated  Peter  (who  doubtless  was  about  to 
ask  Him  something  about  tribute)  and  said:  "Simon, 
what  thinkest  thou  ?  Do  the  kings  of  this  world  take 
tribute  and  custom  of  their  children  or  of  strangers?" 
Peter  answered  him:  "Of  strangers."  Jesus  said  to 
him  :  "  Then  are  thy  children  free.  But  lest  we  should 
offend  them,  go  to  the  sea  and  cast  a  hook,  and  the  first 
fish  that  comes  up  take  ;  and  when  thou  hast  opened  his 
mouth,  thou  shalt  find  a  coin  (it  was  a  penny,  that  could 
pay  for  them  both,  but  was  worth  much  more  than  the 
real  tax  pennies,  wherefore  I  think  it  was  a  tribute  which 
they  collected  from  Christ),  take  it  and  give  it  for  thee 
and  me."  Thus  Christ  did  not  desire  to  vex  the  author- 
ities, but  rather  to  do  what  He  might  otherwise  refuse. 
This  paragraph  I  would  not  have  added,  had  not  my 
opponents  represented  it  thus:  Christ,  they  said,  de- 
sired Himself  to  avoid  taxation.  For  this  article  is  more 
against  them  than  for  them  ;  thus,  if  you  spiritual  teach- 
ers in  the  flesh  are  all  so  inclined  to  avoid  vexation,  why 
do  you  not  then  also  help  to  bear  the  common  burden, 
when  you  see  that  the  parish  is  badly  vexed  about  it  and 
cries  out  :     "  You  go  lazily  away  from  our  work.     Why 


Appendix  435 

do  you  not  help  us  carry  the  burden  ?"  Hear  also  that 
Christ  gave  the  tribute  money,  in  order  not  to  arouse 
anyone  to  anger.  Loose  the  knot.  There  are  more 
places  still  in  the  Gospel  in  which  the  word  skandalon 
is  written  ;  but  it  means  there  either  disgrace  ;  or  if  it 
means  offence,  it  is  used  in  the  following  sense  :  dis- 
grace and  contempt,  Matthew,  xviii.,  7.  "Woe  unto 
the  world  because  of  offences,"  that  is,  woe  unto  the 
world  on  account  of  disgrace  and  contempt,  since  one 
despises,  refuses,  and  rejects  the  simple  (who  is,  however, 
as  much  God's  as  the  highest),  which  the  following 
words  mean,  when  He  says  :  "  Take  heed  lest  ye  offend 
one  of  the  least  of  these."  Thus  it  is  also  to  be  under- 
stood, Luke,  xvii.,  i,  which  also  is  clear  from  what  pre- 
cedes about  the  rich  man,  who  did  not  let  poor  Lazarus 
have  the  crumbs.  Thus  also  Mark,  ix,,  42.  But  skand- 
alon or  vexation,  so  taken,  does  not  fit  our  purpose, 
therefore  from  the  first  I  did  not  wish  to  divide  it  into 
three  parts. 

Of  Avoiding  Vexation, 

From  the  above  mentioned  arguments  one  can  readily 
learn  that  one  should  carefully  avoid  offence.  But  still 
I  must  think,  that,  as  one  should  forgive  the  weak,  one 
should  also  in  forgiving  teach  and  strengthen  him,  and 
not  always  feed  him  with  milk,  but  turn  him  to  heartier 
food;  for  Christ  says,  Matthew,  xiii.,  41:  "The  Son 
of  man  shall  send  forth  his  angels  (that  is,  messengers), 
and  they  shall  gather  out  of  his  kingdom  all  things  that 
offend  and  them  which  are  not  God-fearing  and  do 
iniquity,  and  shall  cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire." 
Are  His  angels  to  do  that?  Yes.  Then  it  is  better  that 
we  should  do  it  ourselves  ;  then  it  will  not  be  done  by 
God  and  punished  so  severely,  as  Paul  teaches  us,  I. 


436  Huldreich  Zwingli 

Corinthians,  xi.,  31  :  "For  if  we  would  judge  ourselves, 
we  should  not  be  judged,"  If  we  ourselves  take  the 
offence,  it  must  not  be  taken  with  the  judgment  of  God, 
to  which  now  St.  Paul  arouses  us,. 

Firstly,  Christ  says,  Matthew,  v.,  29  :  "  If  thy  right 
eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out,  and  cast  it  from  thee  :  for 
it  is  profitable  for  thee  that  one  of  thy  members  should 
perish,  and  not  that  thy  whole  body  should  be  cast  into 
hell.  And  if  thy  right  hand  offend  thee,  cut  it  off,  and 
cast  it  from  thee  :  for  it  is  profitable,"  etc.,  as  above.  The 
same  is  also  said  in  Matthew,  xviii.,  8,  except  that  he 
adds  the  foot.  Who  is  now  the  eye,  the  hand,  the  foot, 
which,  offending  us,  shall  be  cast  away  ?  Every  bishop 
is  an  eye,  every  clergyman,  every  officer,  who  are  noth- 
ing more  than  overseers  ;  and  the  Greek  word  episkofos, 
is  in  German  an  overseer,  to  which  the  words  of  St, 
Paul  refer,  Acts,  xx.,  28,  where  he  says  to  the  bishops 
of  Ephesus  :  "  Take  heed  therefore  unto  yourselves, 
and  to  all  the  flock,  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath 
made  you  bishops  (that  is,  overseers  or  shepherds),  to 
watch  and  feed  the  Church  of  God,  which  he  hath 
bought  with  his  own  blood,"  Here  you  see  briefly  what 
their  duty  is  :  overseeing  the  sheep,  feeding,  not  flaying 
and  shearing  too  closely  and  loading  them  with  unbear- 
able burdens,  which  is  nothing  else  than  giving  offence, 
pointing  out  sins  that  are  not  present,  so  that  weak  con- 
sciences are  troubled  and  made  to  despair  ;  this  is 
offending  God's  little  ones,  Matthew,  xviii.,  6.  But  you 
see  yourself,  according  to  the  words  of  Isaiah,  Ivi.,  10, 
that  His  watchmen  have  become  blind,  all  ignorant, 
stupid  dogs,  that  cannot  bark,  taught  in  loose  things, 
lazily  sleeping  and  dreaming,  indeed,  preferring  dreams 
to  the  truth,  the  most  shameless  dogs,  which  cannot  be 
satisfied  :    shepherds    which     have     no    reason,     each 


Appendix  437 

following  his  ouTi  way  or  capricious  desires,  all  avaricious, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  saying:  "Let  us  drink 
good  wine  and  become  full,  and  as  we  do  to-day,  so 
shall  we  do  to-morrow,  yea,  still  more."  These  all  are 
the  words  of  Isaiah,  and  little  is  to  be  added.  Do  you 
not  see  that  such  eyes  offend  men  much,  and,  although 
Christ  tells  us  to  pluck  them  out,  we  suffer  them 
patiently  ?  Understand  also  hand  and  foot  which  are  so 
nearly  related  to  you,  as  your  own  members  ;  indeed, 
even  if  they  are  necessary  to  you  for  support  and 
strength  as  a  hand  or  a  foot,  still  one  is  to  remove  them 
if  they  abuse  their  superiority.  Now  this  paragraph  is 
placed  here  by  me  to  prove  that  offence  should  be 
avoided,  and  that  one  should  not  always  endure  it,  but 
that  everything  should  take  place  with  timely  counsel 
and  reason,  not  with  anyone's  own  assumption  and  arro- 
gance. If  they  do  not  do  that,  who  ought  to  do  it  ? 
We  should  recognise  that  our  sins  have  deserved  of  God 
this,  that  such  blind  eyes  lead  us,  the  blind,  astray,  and 
rule  us.  Nehemiah,  ix.,  30  :  "  Thou  hast  warned  them 
in  thy  spirit  through  thy  prophets,  and  they  have  not 
followed,  and  thou  hast  given  them  into  the  hand  of  the 
people  of  the  earth,"  that  is,  into  the  hands  of  the  un- 
believers. Also  Isaiah,  iii.,  4  :  "And  I  will  give  child- 
ren to  be  their  princes  (note  this  well),  and  old  women 
shall  rule  them." 

Secondly,  the  words  of  Paul  are  to  be  considered, 
Romans,  xiv.,  where  it  is  mentioned  above  in  the  second 
article  on  giving  offence,  in  which  place  he  says  :  "  Him 
that  is  weak  in  faith  receive  ye,  but  not  to  doubtful  dispu- 
tations." See  you,  the  weak  is  not  to  be  allowed  to  re- 
main weak,  but  is  to  be  instructed  in  the  truth,  not  with 
subtle  arguments,  by  which  one  becomes  more  doubtful, 
but  with  the  pure,  simple  truth,  so  that  all  doubt  may  be 


43^  Huldreich  Zwingli 

removed.  Therefore  I  could  well  endure  that  those  who 
are  considered  steadier  and  stronger  in  belief,  also  un- 
derstood how  to  make  Christians  strong  in  belief,  and 
gave  them  really  to  understand  what  has  been  given  and 
left  to  them  by  God  ;  but  they  do  exactly  the  contrary. 
If  anything  is  strong,  they  wish  to  make  the  same  again 
weak  and  timid.  Woe  to  them,  as  Christ  spoke  to  the 
Pharisees,  Matthew,  xxiii.,  13  :  "For  they  closed  the 
kingdom  of  God  to  men,  for  they  neither  go  in  them- 
selves nor  let  other  people  go  in."  By  means  of  these 
words  of  Christ  and  of  Paul,  I  think  I  have  excused 
my  arrogance,  of  which  certain  hypocrites  accused  me, 
that  is,  of  having  preached  upon  freedom  concerning 
food  on  the  third  Sunday  of  this  fast,  when  they  thought 
that  I  ought  not  to  do  it.  Why  ?  Should  I  snatch  from 
the  hand  of  those  who  cling  to  the  Scriptures,  which  I 
myself  have  preached,  their  means  of  defence,  and  con- 
tradict the  Scriptures  and  say  they  lie  ?  And  should  I 
have  in  my  hands  the  key  of  God's  wisdom,  as  Christ 
says,  Luke,  xi.,  52,  and  not  open  to  the  ignorant,  but 
also  close  it  before  the  eyes  of  the  knowing?  Do  not 
deceive  yourself  that  you  have  persuaded  me  to  this, 
you  vain,  loose  hypocrite.  I  will  rather  take  care  of  my 
soul,  which  I  have  laden  with  enough  other  misdeeds, 
and  will  not  murder  it  outright  with  a  suppression  of 
the  truth. 

Thirdly,  it  is  true  that  Paul  had  Timothy  circumcised, 
Acts,  xvi.,  3.  But  on  the  other  hand  as  he  says,  Gala- 
tians,  ii.,  3,  he  did  not  have  Titus  circumcised  :  "  Titus 
who  was  with  me,  did  not  want  to  be  forced  to  circum- 
cision. He  had  this  reason  :  False  brethren  have 
slipped  unseen  among  us,  who  are  come  into  our  midst 
to  spy  out  our  liberty,  which  we  have  in  Jesus  Christ, 
that  they  might  make  us  again  slaves  and  subjects,  to 


Appendix  439 

whom  we  yielded  not  a  moment,  tliat  tlie  trutli  of  tlie 
Gospel  might  continue  with  you."  Those  who  protect 
the  liberty  of  the  dospel  ])ut  this  up  before  the  cere- 
monies as  a  shield  and  bulwark.  If  Paul  circumcised 
Timothy,  still  he  did  not  on  the  contrary  have  Titus  cir- 
cumcised, although  much  reproach  came  to  him  on  that 
account.  What  is  to  be  done  with  him  ?  Is  Paul  in- 
consistent with  himself  ?  No.  If  he  had  Timothy  cir- 
cumcised, it  was  because  he  could  not  keep  him  from  it 
on  account  of  the  great  disturbance  of  the  Jews,  who 
were  Christians.  But  afterwards,  those  of  the  Jews 
who  had  become  Christians  were  better  taught,  so  that 
he  was  able  to  spare  Titus  and  protect  him  without 
great  uproar  ;  and,  although  some  demanded  his  cir- 
cumcision, and,  when  it  did  not  happen,  were  greatly 
offended  at  it,  he  considered  the  truth  and  Christian  lib- 
erty more  than  any  strife  that  arose  against  it  from  bad 
feeling.  Notice  also  in  these  words  from  Paul  how 
everywhere  the  false  brethren  had  undertaken  to  take 
liberty  from  Christians. 

Fourthly,  Paul  writes,  Galatians,  ii.,  12,  that  Peter  ate 
with  the  Christians,  who  had  become  believers  from 
heathendom,  indeed,  he  ate  with  the  heathen.  But 
when  some  came  from  Jerusalem  to  Antioch  who  were 
also  Christians  but  converted  from  Judaism,  he  fled 
from  the  heathen,  so  that  the  Jews  might  not  be  offended. 
Paul  did  not  desire  him  to  do  that,  but  chid  him  in 
these  words  :  "  You  teach  the  heathen  to  live  as  Jews, 
because  you  are  a  Jew  by  birth  "  ;  that  is,  if  you  flee 
from  the  heathen  on  account  of  the  Jews,  you  raise  a 
suspicion  against  the  heathen,  that  they  were  not  really 
Christians,  or  they  would  have  to  keep  human  fasts,  as 
the  Jews,  or  else  sin.  And  about  this  he  said  :  "  When 
I  saw  that  he  did  not  walk  uprightly,  I  withstood  him 


440  Huldreich  Zwingli 

to  his  face."  At  this  place  you  find  Paul,  who  teaches 
diligently,  not  offending,  not  caring  if  a  few  want  to  be 
offended,  providing  he  could  keep  the  greater  multitude 
unaffected  and  unsuspicious.  For  if  even  the  Jews,  on 
whose  account  Peter  fled  from  the  heathen,  became 
offended,  still  Paul  gave  them  no  attention,  so  that  the 
heathen  Christian  (thus  I  call  them  that  were  converted 
from  heathendom)  could  remain  free  and  would  not  be 
brought  under  the  oppression  of  the  law  by  Jewish 
Christians. 

When  Christ  spoke  to  the  Pharisees,  Matthew,  xv.,  ii  : 
"  Not  that  which  goeth  into  the  mouth  defileth  a  man," 
his  disciples  said  to  Him  :  *'  Knowest  thou  that  the 
Pharisees  who  heard  these  words  were  offended  and 
angered?"  Christ  answered  them:  "Let  them  go; 
they  be  blind  leaders  of  the  blind."  See  that  here 
Christ's  meaning  is,  as  it  seems  to  me,  that  the  disciples 
should  let  the  Pharisees  go  and  should  live  according 
to  their  liberty  and  custom  in  spite  of  them  ;  for  they 
were  blind,  and  saw  not  the  truth  of  liberty  ;  were  also 
leaders  of  those  who  erred  as  they  did.  Since  now  in 
the  above  two  articles,  I  have  spoken  enough  of  offence 
and  of  the  doing  away  with  offence,  it  seems  to  me  good 
to  bring  together  in  short  statements  all  that  touches 
upon  offence,  so  that  each  may  know  where  he  shall 
yield  and  where  not. 

I.  What  clearly  affects  the  divine  truth,  as  the  belief 
and  commandments  of  God,  no  one  shall  yield,  whether 
one  is  offended  or  not.  Psalm  cxlv.,  i8  ;  I.  Corin- 
thians, ii.,  2  ;  Matthew,  v.,  lo  :  "  Blessed  are  they  which 
suffer  for  righteousness'  sake,"  II.  Corinthians,  xiii.,  8  : 
"  For  we  can  do  nothing  against  the  truth,  but  for  the 
truth." 

II,  The  liberties,  which  are   given   to   man   by  God, 


Appendix  44i 

touching  the  hiw  of  food  and  other  such  things,  should 
be  considered  with  regard  to  God  and  man. 

III.  When  one  speaks  of  the  liberty  now  under  dis- 
cussion, that  we  are  released  by  God  from  all  such  bur- 
dens, one  shall  not  yield  in  respect  to  truth  and  belief, 
whether  one  offend  or  not.  For  Paul  says  :  "All  things 
are  proper  for  me." 

IV.  But  when  the  practice  of  liberty  offends  your 
neighbour,  you  should  not  offend  or  vex  him  without 
cause  ;  for  when  he  perceives  it,  he  will  be  offended  no 
more,  unless  he  is  angry  purposely,  as  when  the  Jews 
became  angry  at  the  disciples'  eating  with  unwashed 
hands  and  on  the  Sabbath  :  Mark,  ii.,  24. 

V.  But  you  are  to  instruct  him  as  a  friend  in  the  be- 
lief, how  all  things  are  proper  and  free  for  him  to  eat. 
Romans,  xv.,  i  :  "  We  who  are  stronger  in  the  faith  shall 
receive  the  weak,"  that  is,  comfort  and  instruct  them. 

VI.  But  when  forgiving  avails  not,  do  as  Christ  said, 
Matthew,  xv.,  14  :  "  Let  them  go." 

VII.  And  use  your  liberty,  wherever  you  can  without 
public  disturbance,  just  as  Paul  did  not  have  Titus  cir- 
cumcised :  Gal.,  ii.,  3. 

VIII.  But  if  it  causes  public  uproar,  do  not  use  it, 
just  as  Paul  had  Timothy  circumcised  :  Acts,  xvi.,  3. 

IX.  Gradually  teach  the  weak  with  all  industry  and 
care,  until  they  are  instructed,  so  that  the  number  of  the 
strong  is  so  large  that  no  one,  or  still  only  a  few,  can  be 
offended  ;  for  they  will  certainly  let  themselves  be  taught  ; 
so  strong  is  the  Word  of  God,  that  it  will  remain  not  with- 
out fruit :  Isaiah,  Iv.,  10. 

X.  Take  this  same  view  in  other  things,  which  are 
only  means  :  as  eating  meat,  working  on  holy  days  after 
one  has  heard  the  Word  of  God  and  taken  communion, 
and  the  like. 


442  Huldreich  Zwingli 

Of  Being  Offended  at  Iniioccnt  Customs. 

On  account  of  all  this,  they  complain  very  bitterly  who 
have  learned  the  acceptance  of  virtues  rather  from  Aris- 
totle than  from  Christ  :  saying  that  in  this  way  all  good 
works,  as  not  eating  meat,  abstaining  from  labour,  and 
other  things  which  I  shall  not  mention,  are  done  away 
with.  To  these  I  answer  as  follows  :  Many  mistakes  are 
made  as  to  the  choice  of  good  works,  although  we  might 
well  hear  what  St.  James  says,  i.,  17,  that  all  good  gifts 
and  presents  come  from  above  from  the  Father  of  light. 
From  this  we  can  conclude  that  all  good  which  pleases 
God  must  come  from  Him  ;  for  if  it  came  from  any  other 
source,  there  would  be  two  or  more  sources  of  good,  of 
which  there  is  however  only  one  ;  Jeremiah,  ii.,  13  : 
"  They  have  forsaken  me  the  fountain  of  living  waters, 
and  hewed  them  out  cisterns,  broken  cisterns,  that 
can  hold  no  water."  Notice  the  fountain  ;  notice  the 
broken  cistern.  Thus  Christ  speaks  to  the  young  man 
who  called  Him  good,  in  order  to  do  Him  eye-service  : 
"  God  alone  is  good."  If  He  alone  is  good,  without 
doubt  no  good  fruit  can  come  from  any  source  except 
from  the  tree  which  alone  is  good.  Then  notice  the 
angels  and  you  will  find,  that,  as  soon  as  they  depended 
somewhat  upon  themselves,  they  fell.  Thus  also  man,  as 
soon  as  he  depended  somewhat  upon  himself,  fell  into  the 
trouble  that  still  follows  us.  See,  those  are  the  bad, 
false,  broken  cisterns,  which  are  dug  and  thrown  up  only 
by  men,  not  real  natural  fountains.  Thus  they  thought 
that  that  would  seem  good  to  God  and  please  Him, 
which  they  had  attempted  and  which  resulted  in  great 
disadvantage  to  them,  from  no  other  reason,  as  I  think, 
than  that  they  had  assumed  to  know  the  good  or  the 
right,  and  did  not  depend  alone  on  God  and  trust  alone 


or  THE 


*yNIV£RS(TY  I 


in  Him.  Not  that  I  mean  to  say  that  abstinence  from 
food  is  bad  ;  indeed,  where  it  comes  from  the  leading 
and  inspiration  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  it  is  without  doubt 
good  ;  but  where  it  comes  simply  from  fear  of  human» 
command,  and  is  to  be  considered  as  a  divine  command 
and  thus  trusted  in,  and  where  man  begins  to  please  him- 
self thereby,  it  is  not  only  not  good  but  also  injurious  ; 
unless  you  show  me  from  the  Holy  Writ  that  our  inven- 
tions must  please  God.  I  shall  also  not  be  worsted,  if  you 
say  to  me  :  "  Still  the  assembly  of  a  church  may  set  up 
ordinances  which  are  kept  also  in  heaven."  Matthew, 
xvi.,  19,  and  xviii.,  18  :  "Verily  I  say  unto  you  whatso- 
ever ye  shall  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven  : 
and  whatsoever  ye  shall  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in 
heaven."  That  is  true,  but  the  observance  is  not  made 
by  the  whole  Christian  Church,  indeed  only  by  certain 
bishops,  who  had  for  a  time  undertaken  to  place  upon 
Christians  certain  laws,  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
common  people.  Also  if  you  should  say  that  silence  is 
a  form  of  consent,  I  answer  :  The  pious  simplicity  of 
Christians  has  kept  silence  in  many  things  from  fear, 
and  that  no  one  has  told  them  of  their  liberty  coming 
from  the  Scriptures.  For  example,  whom  did  it  ever 
please  that  the  Pope  conferred  all  benefices  on  his  serv- 
ants ?  Indeed,  every  pious  man  everywhere  has  said, 
"  I  do  not  believe  it  is  right."  But  the  people  kept  still 
about  it  with  much  pain,  till  the  Gospel  truth  gave  forth 
light,  when  for  the  first  time  the  mask  was  taken  from  it. 
Thus  also  here  the  clergy  have  taken  a  hand  to  control 
everything,  after  they  have  seen  Christians  willingly  fol- 
lowing them.  Why  ?  They  fear  us  for  the  reason  lest 
he  who  transgresses  the  command  be  obliged  to  give  us 
money.  Yet  it  all  would  have  had  no  success,  if  such 
oppressive  regulations  were  not  given  out  as  being  divine. 


444  Huldreich  Zwingli 

We  sold  them  for  that,  and  where  the  agreement  was  of 
that  kind,  after  the  truth  had  come  to  light,  you  can  see 
what  kind  of  an  agreement  it  was.  But  we  will  hear 
what  Paul  says  of  works. 

To  the  Colossians,  ii.,  i6  (which  passage  I  have  quoted 
above),  he  writes:  "Let  no  man  judge  you  in  meat, 
or  in  drink,  or  in  respect  of  a  holyday,  or  of  the  new 
moon,  or  of  the  Sabbath  days  ;  which  are  a  shadow  of 
things  to  come  ;  but  the  body  is  of  Christ.  Let  no  man 
beguile  you  of  your  reward  in  a  voluntary  humility  and 
worshipping  of  angels,  intruding  into  those  things  which 
he  hath  not  seen,  vainly  puffed  up  by  his  fleshly  mind,  and 
not  holding  the  Head,  from  which  all  the  body  by  joints 
and  bands  having  nourishment  ministered,  and  knit 
together,  increaseth  with  the  increase  of  God.  Where- 
fore if  ye  be  dead  with  Christ  from  the  rudiments  of  the 
world,  why,  as  though  living  in  the  world,  are  ye  subject 
to  ordinances  (Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not :  which 
things  are  all  to  perish  with  the  using)  after  the  com- 
mandments and  doctrines  of  men  ?  Which  things  indeed 
have  a  showing  of  wisdom  in  will-worship,  humility,  and 
neglecting  of  the  body  ;  not  in  any  honour  to  the  satisfy- 
ing of  the  flesh."  All  these  are  the  words  of  Paul,  which 
in  Latin  are  not  at  all  intelligible,  but  in  Greek  are  some- 
what clearer.  But  that  each  may  well  understand  them, 
I  shall  briefly  paraphrase  them. 

No  one  shall  reject  you  or  consider  you  good  on 
account  of  any  food,  or  holy  day,  whether  you  rest  or  not 
(always  excepting  Sundays,  after  God's  Word  has  been 
heard  and  communion  administered).  Let  the  new  moon 
fast  and  the  Sabbath  go  ;  for  these  things  have  become 
only  symbolical  of  a  Christian  holiday,  when  one  is  to 
cease  and  leave  off  sinning,  also  that  we,  repenting  such 
works,  become  happy  only  in  the  mercy  of  God  ;  and,  as 


Appendix  445 

Christ  has  come,  the  shadows  and  symbols  are  without 
doubt  done  away  with.  One  thing  more  notice  as  to  the 
time  :  It  surely  seems  to  me  (I  cannot  help  thinking  so) 
that  to  keep  certain  times  with  timidity  is  an  injury  and 
harm  to  unchanging  and  everlasting  justice,  thus  :  simple 
people  think  that  everything  is  right,  if  only  they  confess 
the  fasts,  fast,  enjoy  God,  take  the  sacrament,  and  let  the 
whole  year  pass  away  thus  ;  whereas  one  should  at  all 
times  confess  God,  live  piously  and  do  no  more  than  we 
think  is  necessary  in  the  fast.  And  Christ  says  again, 
Matthew,  xxv.,  13:  "Watch  therefore,  for  ye  know 
neither  the  day  nor  the  hour." 

Further,  he  reminds  them  that  they  shall  not  allow 
themselves  to  be  beguiled  by  those  who  pretend  humility. 
What  is  beguiling  but  disregarding  the  simple  meaning  of 
God  and  wanting  to  find  or  show  to  the  simple  another 
shorter  way  to  happiness,  and  to  seek  therewith  wealth, 
name,  and  the  reputation  of  a  spiritual  man  ?  Therefore 
Paul  advises  against  this  and  warns  us  that  we  should  not 
allow  ourselves  to  be  beguiled,  that  is,  not  allow  ourselves 
to  be  deceived.  For  the  same  hypocrites  will  falsely 
assert,  that  angels  spoke  with  them  and  revealed  some- 
thing to  them,  and  will  elevate  themselves  on  that  account. 
Listen,  how  well  he  paints  them  in  their  true  colours,  and 
yet  we  do  not  want  to  recognise  them.  Why  do  you 
dream  here  of  the  doctrines  and  ordinances  which  are 
chattered  out  at  the  pulpit  in  the  cloisters  ?  And  why  of 
the  crows  which  nip  the  ears  of  some  of  you  ?  Do  you 
not  now  hear  that  all  such  things  are  suggested  by  the 
flesh,  and  not  by  the  spirit?  For  the  same  depend  not 
on  the  head  of  Christ,  from  which  all  other  members 
being  arranged,  coordinated,  and  united,  receive  their 
nourishment  or  support  of  heavenly  life,  and  progress  in 
a  growth  that  pleases  God.     Notice  here  in  the  spiritual 


44^  Huldreich  Zwingli 

growth  and  increase  a  different  method  than  in  the  bodily. 
In  the  body  all  members  grow  from  the  sustenance  of 
the  belly,  but  in  the  spirit  from  the  head  of  Christ.  Con- 
sider now  human  doctrines  :  if  they  are  like  the  opinion 
of  the  head,  they  are  sustained  by  the  head  ;  if  they  are 
not  like  it,  they  come  from  the  belly  :  O  ventres,  O  ye 
bellies  !  But  if  we  are  dead  with  Christ  to  the  rudiments 
of  the  world,  that  is,  if  Christ  by  His  death  made  us  free 
from  all  sins  and  burdens  ;  then  we  are  also  in  baptism, 
that  is  in  belief,  freed  from  all  Jewish  or  human  cere- 
monies and  chosen  works,  which  he  calls  the  rudiments. 
If  we  are  now  dead  to  the  rudiments,  why  do  we  burden 
ourselves  with  fictitious  human  ordinances?  Just  as 
though  God  did  not  consider  and  think  enough,  did  not 
give  us  sufficient  instruction  and  access  to  blessedness 
and  we  make  ourselves  ordinances,  which  oppress  us 
saying  :  "  Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not  "  ;  which 
touching  or  eating  does  not  serve  to  injure  or  disturb 
the  soul.  For  only  for  this  purpose  have  the  false 
teachers  pretended  that  this  was  injurious,  that  with  sim- 
ple-minded people  they  might  have  the  name  of  being 
wise  and  godly,  indeed  also  with  those  who  prescribe  for 
themselves  their  own  religion,  saying  :  "  Is  not  such  absti- 
nence and  purification  of  the  body  a  good  thing?  Is  it 
not  a  good  thing  to  prevent  sin  by  good  ordinances?" 
Hear  how  much  weight  Paul  gives  this  folly.  He  says 
these  things  have  only  the  form  of  the  good.  If  they 
have  only  the  form  of  the  good,  they  are  themselves  not 
good  in  the  sight  of  God,  for  they  arise  from  ethelothriskeia. 
It  is  a  Greek  word,  and  means  the  honour  or  fear  of  God, 
which  one  has  chosen  for  himself  and  to  which  he  stub- 
bornly clings  :  as,  for  example,  many  will  not  cut  the 
beard  on  Friday  and  think  they  greatly  honour  God 
thereby  ;  and,  when  they  transgress  this,  they  greatly  sin 


Appendix  V  or     A4/ 


in  thus  doing,  and  consider  the  rule  that  they  themselves 
have  set  up  so  important,  that  tliey  would  three  times 
sooner  break  their  marriage  vows,  than  to  do  anything 
against  their  reputation  for  wisdom.  Indeed,  deceive  not 
yourself  that  things  are  with  God  as  you  have  persuaded* 
yourself  ;  that  is  true  superstition,  a  stubborn  self-chosen 
spirit.  Here  in  the  words  of  Paul  consider  the  greater 
part  of  the  ordinances  and  rules,  and  you  will  find  pretty 
things.  Thus  are  the  most  human  ordinances,  of  which 
Christ  says,  Matthew,  xv.,  9  :  "  But  in  vain  do  they  wor- 
ship me,  teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of 
men."  He  says  niafin,  Greek  for  impossible,  in  vain  ; 
that  tells  the  very  truth.  Then  this  follows  :  But  they 
are  worth  nothing,  if  you  consider  them  according  to  the 
need  and  wants  of  the  body.  All  food  is  created  for  the 
support  of  man  ;  as  far  as  it  only  affects  bodily  use  it  is  of 
no  moment,  whether  you  eat  this  or  that  food.  Go  rather 
again  to  the  clearer  words  of  Paul  and  read  them  again, 
and  they  will  be  much  clearer  to  you  and  worthier  in  your 
heart. 

Pious  servants  of  Christ,  these  are  the  opinions,  which 
I  have  preached  from  the  Holy  Writ,  and  have  again  col- 
lected for  no  other  purpose  than  that  the  Scriptures  might 
be  forcibly  brought  to  the  notice  of  those  ignorant  of  the 
same,  and  as  Christ  commands  that  they  might  rather 
search  them,  and  that  you  and  your  people  may  be  less 
reviled  by  them.  For  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  it  was 
entirely  against  my  will  to  write  of  these  things,  for  the 
reason  that,  even  if  winning  by  the  aid  of  the  Scriptures, 
as  without  doubt  I  shall  win  with  God's  help,  still  I  have 
gained  nothing,  except  that  according  to  divine  law  no 
kind  of  food  is  forbidden  to  man  at  any  time  ;  although 
among  the  right  and  humbly  thankful  this  writing  of 
mine  causes  great  joy  of  conscience,  in  which  they  rejoice 


44S  Huldreich  Zwingli 

in  freedom,  even  if  they  never  eat  meat  at  forbidden  times. 
And  as  a  result  I  must  have  a  worse  time  avoiding  offence 
than  if  I  had  left  the  world  in  the  belief  that  it  was  a 
divine  ordinance,  which,  however,  I  could  not  do.  You 
know  that  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  the  Epistles  to  Timothy,  to  the  Galatians,  both 
Epistles  to  Peter,  about  which  you  all  heard  me  preach, 
are  full  of  such  opinions.  But  one  must  clear  the  dear 
face  of  Christ  of  such  spots,  unseemly  things,  and  of  the 
foulness  of  human  commands  ;  and  He  will  become  again 
dear  to  us,  if  we  properly  feel  the  sweetness  of  His  yoke, 
and  the  lightness  of  His  burden.  God  bless  this  His  doc- 
trine !  Amen. 

What  has  been  written  above,  I  am  responsible  be- 
fore God  and  man  to  account  and  answer  for,  and  I  also 
desire  of  all  who  understand  the  Scriptures,  in  case  I 
have  misused  the  same,  to  inform  me  of  this  either  orally 
or  by  letter,  not  disgracing  the  truth  by  shameless  clatter 
behind  one's  back,  which  is  dishonourable  and  unmanly. 
I  desire  to  be  guided  everywhere  by  the  New  and  Old 
Testaments.  But  what  follows,  I  only  wish  to  view  as 
submitted,  still  with  proof  from  the  Scriptures,  and  let 
each  one  judge  of  it  in  secret  for  himself. 

Whether  Anyo7ie  Has  Pozver  to  Forbid  Foods. 

I.  The  general  gathering  of  Christians  may  accept  for 
themselves  fasts  and  abstinence  from  foods,  but  not  set 
these  up  as  a  common  and  everlasting  law. 

II.  For  God  says  :  Deut.,  iv.,  2  :  "Ye  shall  not  add 
unto  the  word  which  I  command  you,  neither  shall  ye 
diminish  aught  from  it."  And  also  xii.,  32  :  "  What 
thing  soever  I  command  you,  observe  to  do  it :  thou 
shalt  not  add  thereto,  nor  diminish  from  it," 


Appendix  449 

III.  If  one  could  not  and  should  not  add  to  the  Old 
Testament,  tlien  much  less  to  the  New. 

IV.  For  the  Old  Testament  has  passed  away  and  was 
not  otherwise  given  except  that  it  should  pass  away  in 
its  time  ;  but  the  New  is  everlasting,  and  can  never  be 
done  away  with. 

V.  This  is  shown  by  the  sanctification  of  both  Tes- 
taments. The  Old  is  sprinkled  and  sanctified  by  the 
blood  of  animals,  but  the  New  with  the  blood  of  the  ever- 
lasting God,  for  Christ  thus  spake  :  "  This  is  the  cup 
of  my  blood  of  a  new  and  everlasting  testament," 
etc. 

VI.  If  now  it  is  a  testament,  and  Paul,  Galatians,  iii., 
15,  says  it  is  :  "  Though  it  be  but  a  man's  covenant, 
yet  if  it  be  confirmed,  no  man  disannulleth,  or  addeth 
thereto." 

VII.  How  dare  a  man  add  to  the  testament,  to  the 
covenant  of  God,  as  though  he  would  better  it? 

VIII.  Galatians,  i.,  9,  Paul  curses  what  is  preached 
otherwise  concerning  the  Gospel,  thus  :  "  If  any  other 
and  more  gospel  is  preached  to  you  than  ye  have  heard, 
let  him  that  preached  it  be  accursed." 

IX.  Paul  says,  Romans,  xiii.,  8  :  "  Owe  no  man  any- 
thing, but  to  love  one  another." 

X.  Again,  Galatians,  v.,  i  :  "Stand  fast  therefore  in 
the  freedom  wherewith  Christ  has  made  us  free,  and  be 
not  entangled  again  with  the  yoke  of  bondage," 

XI.  If  he  is  to  be  cursed  who  preaches  beyond  what 
Paul  preached,  and  if  Paul  nowhere  preached  the  choice 
of  food,  then  he  who  dares  command  this  must  be 
worthy  of  a  curse. 

XII.  If  we  are  not  bound  by  any  law  but  the  law  of 
love,  and  if  freedom  as  to  food  injures  not  the  love  of 
one's  neighbour,  in  case  this  freedom  is  rightly  taught 


450  Huldreich  Zwingli 

and  understood,  then  we  are  not  subject  to  this  com- 
mandment or  law. 

XIII.  If  Paul  commands  us  to  remain  in  the  liberty 
of  Christ,  why  do  you  command  me  to  depart  from  it  ? 
Indeed,  you  would  force  me  from  it. 

XIV.  When  Christ  said  to  His  disciples,  "  I  have  yet 
much  to  say  to  you,"  He  did  not  say,  "  I  have  much  yet 
to  teach  you  how  ye  shall  lay  commands  on  men,"  but 
He  spake  of  things  which  He  held  up  before  them  and 
which  they,  however,  scarcely  understood.  But  when 
the  spirit  of  truth  shall  come,  it  will  teach  you  all  the 
truth,  that  they  will  understand  all  things  according  to 
the  light  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  is,  providing  they  do 
not  at  that  time  understand,  either  from  ignorance  or 
trouble  and  fear, 

XV.  For  if  such  commands  are  to  be  understood  in 
this  matter,  then  the  disciples  have  sinned,  in  not  having 
forbidden  labour  and  the  eating  of  meat,  going  to  the 
saints,  putting  on  cowls. 

XVI.  Finally,  God  spake  to  Peter,  Acts,  x.,  15  :  "  What 
God  hath  cleansed,  that  call  thou  not  common."  And 
the  Sabbath  is  subject  to  us,  not  we  to  the  Sabbath,  as 
it  is  written  above. 

These  points  have  forced  me  to  think  that  the  church 
officers  have  not  only  no  power  to  command  such  things, 
but  if  they  command  them,  they  sin  greatly  ;  for  who- 
ever is  in  office  and  does  more  than  he  is  commanded, 
is  liable  to  punishment.  How  much  more  then  when 
they  transgress  that  which  is  forbidden  them  ;  and 
Christ  forbade  the  bishops  to  beat  their  fellow  servants. 
Is  it  not  beating,  when  a  command  is  placed  upon  a 
whole  people,  to  which  command  the  general  assembly 
has  not  consented  ?  Therefore,  in  these  articles  I  leave 
to  each,  free  judgment,  and  still  hope  I  have  to  those 


Appendix  45 1 

thirsting  for  Christian  freedom,  made  this  clear,  in  spite 
of  the  enmity  to  me  that  will  grow  out  of  it.  It  is  those 
who  fear  the  spit  (on  which  their  meat  roasts)  will  burn 
off.  They  fear  that,  if  the  matter  of  eating  meat  de- 
parts, it  will  take  along  with  it  more  that  has  hitherto 
served  pleasure  well.  Hence,  they  rage  among  the  sim- 
ple, who,  I  wish,  may  become  free  and  pious  in  Jesus 
Christ.  God  be  with  us  all  !  Amen.  I  have  written 
all  this  hastily  ;  therefore  may  each  understand  it  as 
best  he  can.  Given  at  Zurich,  in  1522,  on  the  i6th 
of  April. 


RECKONING  OF  THE  FAITH  OF  HULDREICH 

ZWINGLI   TO  THE   ROMAN    EMPEROR 

CHARLES.' 

\17E  who  were  preaching  the  Gospel  in  the  cities  of  a 
'"  Christian  State  were  anxiously  expecting,  O 
Charles,  holy  Emperor  of  right,  the  time  when  an  account 
of  the  faith  which  we  both  have  and  confess  would  be 
sought  of  us  also. 

While  we  are  standing  in  readiness  for  this,  it  is  an- 
nounced to  us,  rather  by  rumour  than  by  any  definite 
announcement,  that  many  have  already  prepared  an  out- 
line and  summary  of  their  religion  and  faith,  which  they 
are  offering  you.  Here  we  are  between  the  victim  and 
the  knife  ;  for  on  the  one  side  the  love  of  truth  and  the 
desire  of  public  peace  incite  us  the  more  to  do  what  we 
see  others  doing  ;  but,  on  the  other,  the  shortness  of 
the  opportunity  terrifies  us,  since,  on  account  of  your 
haste,  all  things  must  be  done  very  rapidly,  and,  as 
it  were,  carelessly,  for  the  report  announces  this  also  ; 
and  because  we  who  are  acting  as  preachers  of  the 
Divine  Word  in  the  cities  and  country  of  the  State  men- 
tioned are  situated  and  dispersed  at  too  great  a  distance 

'  Reprinted  by  the  author's  permission  from  Rev.  Prof.  Dr.  H.  E. 
Jacobs'  Book  of  Concord,  ii.,  159-179,  with  a  slight  difference  in 
paragraphing.  It  is  the  Confession  of  Faith  which  Zwingli  laid  be- 
fore the  Emperor  Charles  at  the  Diet  of  Augsburg,  1530,  and  gives 
Zwingli's  matured  belief  on  the  various  points  of  which  it  treats, 

452 


^ 


r 


THE    STATUE   OF    ZWINGLI   AT  THE    BACK  OF 

THE  WATER  CHURCH,   ZURICH,   UNVEILED 

TUESDAY,   A'JQ.  25,   1885. 


Appendix  45. 


from  one  another  to  be  able  to  assemble  in  so  brief  a  time, 
and  deliberate  as  to  what  is  most  fitting  to  write  to  your 
Highness  ;  also,  as  we  have  seen  the  confession  of  some, 
and  even  the  confutation  of  the  adversaries  of  the  same, 
which  seem  to  have  been  prepared  before  anything  was 
demanded  of  them,  I  have  believed  that  it  would  not  be 
improper  if  I  alone  would  forthwith  set  forth  an  account 
of  my  faith  apart  from  the  previous  judgment  of  my 
nation.  For  if  in  any  business  one  must  hasten 
slowly,  here  we  must  hasten  swiftly,  lest  by  passing  over 
the  matter  with  apparent  indifference  we  encounter  the 
danger  either  of  suspicious  silence  or  arrogant  negli- 
gence. You  have  here,  then,  O  Emperor,  a  summary  of 
my  faith,  presented  under  these  circumstances  in  order 
that  I  may  give  in  testimony  my  judgment  not  only  con- 
cerning these  articles,  but  concerning  all  that  I  have 
ever  written,  or,  by  God's  goodness,  will  write,  not  merely 
to  an  individual  or  to  any  small  number,  but  for  the  entire 
Church  of  Christ,  so  far  as  it  is  determined  by  the  com- 
mand and  inspiration  of  the  Word  and  Spirit  of  God  to 
believe  and  accept. 


Reckonijig  of  the  Faith  of  Ulric  Zwingli. 
Of  the  Unity  and  Trinity  of  God. 

In  the  Ji7-st place,  I  both  believe  and  know  that  God  is 
one  and  alone,  anc^that  He  is  by  nature  good,  true,  pow- 
erful, just,  wise,  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  all  things, 
visible  and  invisible  ;  that  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost 
are  indeed  three  persons,  but  that  their  essence  is  one 
and  single.  And  I  hold  altogether  according  to  the  ex- 
position of  the  Creed,  the  Nicene  as  well  as  the  Athana- 
sian,  in  all  their  details  concerning  the  Godhead  Himself 
and  the  three  names  of  persons. 


454  Huldreich  Zwingli 

Of  Christ,  the  Son  of  God  and  Man. 

I  believe  and  understand  that  the  Son  assumed  flesh, 
because  He  truly  assumed  of  the  immaculate  and  perpet- 
ual Virgin  Mary  the  human  nature,  yea,  the  entire  man, 
who  consists  of  body  and  soul.  But  this  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  the  entire  man  was  so  assumed  into  the  unity 
of  the  hypostasis,  or  person  of  the  Son  of  God,  that  the 
man  did  not  constitute  a  peculiar  person,  but  was  as- 
sumed into  the  inseparable,  indivisible,  and  indissoluble 
person  of  the  Son  of  God.  Moreover,  although  both 
natures,  the  divine  and  the  human,  have  so  preserved 
their  character  and  property  that  both  are  truly  and  nat- 
urally found  in  Him,  yet  the  distinct  properties  and  works 
of  the  natures  do  not  separate  the  unity  of  the  person  ; 
no  more  than  in  man  soul  and  body  constitute  two  per- 
sons ;  for  as  they  are  of  most  diverse  nature,  so  they 
operate  by  diverse  properties  and  operations.  Yet  man, 
who  consists  of  them,  is  not  two  persons,  but  one.  So 
God  and  man  is  one  Christ,  the  Son  of  God  from 
eternity,  and  the  Son  of  man  from  the  dispensation  of 
time  to  eternity  ;  one  person,  one  Christ  ;  perfect  God 
and  perfect  man  ;  not  because  one  nature  becomes  the 
other,  or  they  are  confused  with  one  another,  but  be- 
cause each  remains  itself ;  and,  nevertheless,  the  united 
person  is  not  separated  by  this  property.  Hence  one 
and  the  same  Christ,  according  to  His  human  nature, 
cries  in  infancy,  grows,  increases  in  wisdom,  hungers, 
thirsts,  eats,  drinks,  is  warm,  is  cold,  is  scourged,  sweats, 
is  wounded,  is  put  to  death,  fears,  is  sad,  and  endures 
other  things  that  pertain  to  the  penalty  and  punishment 
of  sin  ;  for  He  is  most  remote  from  sin  itself.  But  ac- 
cording to  the  property  of  His  divine  nature,  with  the 
Father  He  controls  the  highest  and  the  lowest  objects, 


Appendix  455 

pervades,  sustains,  and  fosters  all  things,  illumines  the 
blind,  restores  the  lame,  awakens  the  dead,  prostrates 
His  enemies  by  a  word,  when  dead  resumes  life,  returns 
to  heaven,  and  sends  from  Himself  the  Holy  Ghost.  All 
these  things,  however  diverse  in  nature  and  character, 
one  and  tlie  same  Christ  does,  remaining  one  person  of 
the  Son  of  God,  so  that  even  thosj  things  that  pertain  to 
His  divine  nature  are  sometimes  ascribed,  on  account  of 
the  unity  and  perfection  of  the  person,  to  the  human 
nature,  and  those  things  that  pertain  to  the  human  nature 
are  sometimes  spoken  of  the  divine.  He  said  that  He 
was  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven,  although  He  had  not  yet 
ascended  into  heaven  with  His  body.  Peter  asserts  that 
Christ  suffered  for  us,  when  the  humanity  alone  could 
suffer.  But  on  account  of  the  unity  of  the  person  it  is 
truly  said  both  "The  Son  of  God  suffered,"  and  "The 
Son  of  man  forgives  sins."  For  He  who  is  the  Son  of 
God  and  of  man  in  one  person  forgives  sins,  according 
to  the  property  of  the  divine  nature  ;  as  we  say  that  man 
is  wise,  although  consisting  of  body  not  less  than  soul, 
and  a  body  most  remote  from  wisdom,  yea,  a  poison  and 
hindrance  to  knowledge  and  intelligence.  And  again 
we  say  that  He  was  mangled  with  wounds,  when  His  body 
alone  could  receive  wounds,  but  His  spirit  in  no  way. 
Here  no  one  says  that  two  persons  are  made  of  man 
when  that  which  pertains  to  itself  is  ascribed  to  each 
part  ;  and,  again,  no  one  says  that  the  natures  are  con- 
fused when  that  is  predicated  of  the  entire  man  which, 
because  of  the  unity  of  the  person,  belongs  indeed  to  the 
entire  man,  but  because  of  the  property  of  the  parts  to 
only  one.  Paul  says:  "When  I  am  weak,  then  am  I 
strong."  But  who  is  it  that  is  weak  ?  Paul.  Who  at 
the  same  time  is  properly  well  ?  Paul.  But  is  not  this 
desperate,    inconsistent,    and   intolerable  ?     Not    at    all. 


45^  Huldreich  Zwingli 

For  Paul  is  not  one  nature,  although  one  person.  When, 
therefore,  he  says,  "  I  am  weak,"  the  person  which  speaks 
is  undoubtedly  Paul  ;  but  what  is  said  is  neither  predi- 
cated nor  understood  of  both  natures,  but  of  the  weak- 
ness only  of  the  flesh.  And  when  he  says,  "  I  am  strong 
and  well,"  undoubtedly  the  person  of  Paul  speaks,  but 
only  the  soul  is  understood.  So  the  Son  of  God  dies,  He 
undoubtedly  who,  according  to  the  unity  and  simplicity 
of  His  person,  is  both  God  and  man  ;  yet  He  dies  only 
with  respect  to  his  Humanity.  In  this  manner,  concern- 
ing the  divinity  itself  and  concerning  the  persons  and 
the  assumed  human  nature,  not  only  do  I  think,  but  so 
also  all  the  orthodox,  whether  ancients  or  moderns,  have 
thought;  and  so  think  those  who  even  now  acknowledge 
the  truth. 

Secondly. — I  know  that  this  supreme  divinity  which 
is  my  God  freely  regulates  all  things,  so  that  His  purpose 
to  determine  anything  does  not  depend  upon  the  occa- 
sion of  any  creature,  preceding  reasoning  or  example  ; 
for  this  is  peculiar  to  defective  human  wisdom.  God, 
however,  who  from  eternity  to  eternity  regards  all  things 
with  a  single,  simple  view,  has  no  need  of  any  reasoning 
or  expectation  of  events  ;  but  being  equally  wise,  pru- 
dent, good,  etc.,  He  freely  determines  and  disposes  of 
all  things,  for  whatever  is,  is  His.  Hence  it  is  that, 
although  knowing  and  foreseeing.  He  in  the  beginning 
formed  man  who  should  fall,  and  nevertheless  deter- 
mined to  clothe  in  human  nature  His  Son,  who  should 
restore  Him  when  fallen.  For  by  this  means  His  good- 
ness in  every  way  was  manifested.  For  since  He  con- 
tains in  Himself  mercy  and  justice,  He  exercised  His 
justice  when  He  expelled  the  transgressor  from  his  happy 
home  in  Paradise,  when  He  bound  him  in  the  mill  of 
human  misery  and  with  the  fetters  of  diseases,  when  He 


Appendix  457 

shackled  him  with  the  law,  which,  although  it  was  holy, 
he  was  never  to  fulfil.  For  here,  twice  miserable,  he 
learned  not  only  that  the  flesh  had  fallen  into  trouble, 
but  that  the  mind  ,ilso  was  tortured  from  dread  of  the 
transgressed  law.  For  although,  according  to  the  Spirit, 
he  saw  that  the  law  is  holy  and  just  and  a  declaration 
of  the  divine  mind,  so  that  it  enjoined  nothing  but  what 
equity  taught,  yet  when  at  the  same  time  he  saw  that  by 
the  deeds  of  the  law  the  mind  does  not  satisfy  itself, 
condemned  by  his  own  judgment,  with  the  hope  of 
attaining  happiness  removed,  departing  in  despair  from 
God's  sight,  he  thought  of  enduring  nothing  but  the 
pain  of  eternal  punishment.  Thus  far  was  manifested 
God's  justice. 

Moreover,  when  the  time  came  to  publish  His  good- 
ness, which  He  had  determined  from  eternity  to  display 
no  less  than  His  justice,  God  sent  His  Son  to  assume  our 
nature  in  every  part,  whereby  to  outweigh  the  penalty  of 
sin,  in  order  that,  being  made  our  brother  and  equal.  He 
could  be  a  Mediator  to  make  a  sacrifice  for  us  to  divine 
justice,  which  ought  to  remain  holy  and  inviolate,  no 
less  than  His  goodness,  whereby  the  world  might  be  sure 
both  of  the  appeased  justice  and  the  present  kindness  of 
God.  For  since  He  has  given  His  Son  to  us  and  for  us, 
how  will  He  not  with  Him  and  because  of  Him  give  us  all 
things  ?  What  is  it  that  we  ought  not  to  promise  our- 
selves concerning  Him  who  humbled  Himself  so  as  not 
only  to  be  our  equal,  but  to  be  altogether  ours?  Who 
can  sufficiently  admire  the  riches  and  grace  of  divine 
goodness,  whereby  He  so  loved  the  world,  /.  ^.,  the  human 
race,  as  to  give  His  Son  for  its  life  ?  These  I  regard  the 
springs  and  channels  of  the  Gospel  ;  this  the  only  medi- 
cine for  the  fainting  soul,  whereby  it  is  restored  both  to 
God  and  self.     For  nothing  save  God  Himself  can  make 


45^  Huldreich  Zwingli 

it  certain  of  God's  grace.  But  now  He  has  so  liberally, 
abundantly,  and  wisely  lavished  Himself  upon  us  that 
nothing  further  is  left  for  us  to  desire  unless  someone 
would  venture  to  seek  beyond  what  is  highest  and  beyond 
overflowing  abundance. 

Thirdly. — I  know  that  there  is  no  other  victim  for  ex- 
piating crimes  than  Christ ;  for  not  even  was  Paul 
crucified  for  us  ;  that  there  is  no  other  name  under  the 
sun  in  which  we  must  be  saved  than  that  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Here,  therefore,  not  only  the  justification  and  satisfac- 
tion of  our  works  are  denied,  but  also  the  expiation  or 
intercession  of  all  saints,  whether  in  earth  or  heaven, 
with  reference  to  the  goodness  or  mercy  of  God.  For 
this  is  the  one,  sole  Mediator  between  God  and  men, 
the  God  and  man  Christ  Jesus.  Moreover,  God's  elec- 
tion is  manifest  and  remains  firm  ;  for  whom  He  has 
elected  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  He  has  so 
elected,  as,  through  His  Son,  to  receive  him  to  Himself  ; 
for  as  He  is  kind  and  merciful,  so  also  is  He  holy  and 
just.  All  the  works,  therefore,  of  this  mercy  savour  of 
mercy  and  judgment.  Therefore,  justly,  His  election 
also  savours  of  both.  It  is  of  His  goodness  that  He  has 
elected  whom  He  will  ;  but  it  is  of  His  justice  to  adopt 
and  unite  the  elect  to  Himself  through  His  Son,  who 
has  been  made  a  victim  for  satisfying  divine  justice 
for  us. 

Fourthly. — I  know  that  that  remote  ancestor,  our 
first  parent,  was  induced  by  self-love,  at  the  pernicious 
advice  suggested  to  him  by  the  malice  of  the  devil,  to 
desire  to  become  equal  to  God. 

When  he  had  devised  this  crime  he  took  the  forbidden 
and  deadly  fruit,  whereby  he  incurred  the  guilt  of  capi- 
tal punishment,  having  become  a  public  enemy  and  a 
foe  of    God   Himself.       When,  then,    He    could     have 


Appendix  459 

destroyed  him,  as  equity  even  demanded,  nevertheless, 
being  better  disposed,  God  commutes  His  penalty  to  the 
condition  of  making  him  a  slave  whom  He  could  i)unish. 
Since  this  condition  neither  he  himself  nor  any  born  of 
him  could  remove  (for  a  slave  can  beget  nothing  but  a 
slave),  by  a  deadly  taking  of  food  he  cast  all  his  pos- 
terity into  slavery.  Hence,  I  think  of  original  sin  as 
follows :  It  is  truly  called  sin  when  it  is  committed 
against  law  ;  for  where  there  is  no  law  there  is  no  trans- 
gression, and  where  there  is  no  transgression  there  is  no 
sin  in  the  proper  sense,  inasmuch  as  sin  is  clearly  enor- 
mity, crime,  outrage,  or  guilt.  I  confess,  therefore,  that 
our  father  committed  what  is  truly  a  sin  —  viz.,  an  enor- 
mity, a  crime,  an  execrable  deed.  But  those  begotten 
of  him  have  not  sinned  in  this  manner,  for  who  of  us 
destroyed  with  his  teeth  the  forbidden  fruit  in  Paradise  ? 
Therefore,  willing  or  unwilling,  we  are  forced  to  admit 
that  original  sin,  as  it  is  in  the  children  of  Adam,  is  not 
properly  sin,  as  has  been  explained  :  for  it  is  no  outrage 
upon  any  law.  It  is  therefore,  properly,  a  disease  and 
condition  —  a  disease,  because  just  as  he  fell  from  self- 
love,  so  also  do  we  ;  a  condition,  because  just  as  he  be- 
came a  slave  and  subject  to  death,  so  also  are  we  born 
slaves  and  children  of  w'rath  and  subject  to  death.  Al- 
though I  object  not  to  this  disease  and  condition  being 
called,  after  the  manner  of  Paul,  a  sin  ;  yea,  such  a  sin 
that  those  born  therein  are  God's  enemies  and  adver- 
saries, for  they  are  brought  thereto  by  the  condition  of 
nativity,  not  by  the  perpetration  of  crime,  unless  so  far 
as  their  first  parent  has  perpetrated  it. 

The  true  cause,  therefore,  of  the  hostile  conduct  and 
death  is  the  crime  and  wicked  deed  perpetrated  by 
Adam.  But  this  is  truly  sin.  Yet  it  is  such  sin  as 
clings  to  us,  and  is  truly  a  disease  and  a  condition  ;  yea, 


4^0  Huldreich  Zwingli 

a  necessity  of  death.  Nevertheless,  this  would  never 
have  occurred  by  nativity,  unless  crime  had  depraved 
the  nativity  ;  therefore,  the  cause  of  human  calamity  is 
crime,  and  not  nativity  ;  it  pertains  to  nativity  no  other- 
wise than  as  that  which  proceeds  from  a  source  and 
cause.  The  confirmation  of  this  opinion  is  supported 
by  authority  and  example.  Paul,  in  the  fifth  chapter  of 
Romans,  says  :  "  If  by  one  man's  sin  death  reigned, 
by  one,"  etc.  Here  we  see  that  sin  is  properly  under- 
stood. For  Adam  is  the  one  by  whose  fault  death 
hangs  upon  our  shoulders.  In  the  third  chapter  he 
says  :  "  For  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the 
glory  of  God,"  /.  <?.,  the  goodness  and  liberality  of  God. 
Here  sin  is  understood  as  disease,  condition  and  nativity, 
so  that  we  all  are  said  to  sin  even  before  we  come  forth 
to  the  light ;  /,  e.,  we  are  in  the  condition  of  sin  and 
death  even  before  we  sin  in  act.  This  opinion  is  irre- 
fragably  based  upon  the  words  of  the  same  fifth  chap- 
ter of  Romans  :  "  Death  reigned  from  Adam  unto 
Moses,  even  over  them  that  had  not  sinned  after  the 
similitude  of  Adam's  transgression."  So  death  is  ours, 
even  though  we  have  not  sinned  as  Adam.  Why?  Be- 
cause he  sinned.  But  why  does  death  ravage  us  when 
we  have  not  sinned  in  this  way  ?  Because  he  died  on 
account  of  sin,  and,  having  died,  /.  e.,  being  condemned 
to  death,  he  begat  us.  Therefore  we  also  die,  but  by 
his  guilt,  yet  by  our  own  condition  and  disease,  or,  if 
you  prefer,  by  our  sin,  improperly  so-called.  An  ex- 
ample is  as  follows  :  A  captive  in  war  by  his  perfidy  and 
hostility  has  deserved  to  be  held  as  a  slave.  Moreover, 
his  descendants  become  native  slaves,  not  by  their 
fault,  or  guilt,  or  crime,  but  by  their  condition  which 
has  followed  a  fault  ;  for  the  parent  of  whom  they 
have  been    born    has    merited    it   by   liis   crime.      The 


Appendix  4^1 

children  have  no  crime,  but  the  punishment  and  penalty 
of  the  crime  —  namely,  the  condition,  servitude,  and 
workhouse. 

If  it  be  pleasing  to  call  these  a  crime  because  they  are  in- 
flicted for  crime,  I  do  not  forbid.  I  acknowledge  that  this 
original  sin,  by  condition  and  contagion,  belongs  by  birth 
to  all  who  are  born  from  the  love  of  man  and  woman  ; 
and  I  know  that  we  are  by  natijre  the  children  of  wrath, 
but  I  doubt  not  that  we  are  received  among  the  sons  of 
God  by  grace,  which  through  the  second  Adam,  Christ, 
has  restored  what  was  lost  in  the  fall.  But  this  occurs  in 
the  following  manner : 

Fifthly. — Hence  it  is  evident,  if  in  Christ,  the  sec- 
ond Adam,  we  are  restored  to  life,  as  in  the  first 
Adam  we  were  delivered  to  death,  that  in  condemning 
children  born  of  Christian  parents,  nay,  even  the  child- 
ren of  heathen,  we  are  inconsiderate.  For  if  by  sin- 
ning, Adam  could  ruin  the  entire  race,  and  Christ  by 
dying  did  not  quicken  and  redeem  the  entire  race  from 
the  calamity  given  by  the  former,  the  salvation  given  by 
Christ  is  no  longer  the  same,  and  in  like  manner  (which 
be  it  far  from  us  to  assert)  is  not  true  :  "  For  as  in 
Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive." 
But  in  whatever  way  this  must  be  declared  of  the  infants 
of  the  heathen,  this  we  must  certainly  maintain  that  by 
virtue  of  the  salvation  procured  through  Christ,  it  is  ir- 
relevant to  pronounce  them  subject  to  an  eternal  curse, 
not  only  on  account  of  the  cause  of  restoration  men- 
tioned, but  on  account  of  God's  free  election,  which  does 
not  follow  faith,  but  faith  follows  election  ;  of  which  we 
will  treat  in  the  article  that  follows.  For  those  who 
have  been  elected  from  eternity  have  undoubtedly  been 
elected  even  before  faith.  Therefore  those  who  because 
of  their  age  have  not  faith,  should  not  be  inconsiderately 


4^2  Huldreich  Zwingli 

condemned  by  us  ;  for  although  they  do  not  as 
yet  have  it,  yet  God's  election  has  been  hidden  from 
us  ;  if  before  Him  they  be  elect,  we  judge  precipi- 
tantly  of  what  is  unknown.  But  nevertheless  of  the 
infants  of  Christians  we  declare  otherwise  —  viz.,  that 
as  many  as  are  infants  of  Christians  are  of  the  Church 
of  God's  people  and  are  parts  and  members  of  His 
Church.  This  we  prove  in  this  way :  It  has  been 
promised  by  the  testimonies  of  almost  all  the  prophets 
that  the  Church  is  to  be  assembled  from  the  heathen  into 
the  Church  of  God's  people.  Christ  Himself  says  : 
"  They  shall  come  from  the  east  and  west,  and  shall  sit 
down  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob  "  ;  and  :  "  Go 
ye  into  the  world,"  etc.  But  to  the  Church  of  the  Jews 
their  infants  belonged  equally  as  the  Jews  themselves. 
Therefore  our  infants  belong  to  Christ's  Church  no  less 
than,  in  former  times,  did  those  of  the  Jews  ;  for  if  it 
were  otherwise  the  promise  would  not  have  been  ful- 
filled, as  then  we  would  not  sit  down  equally  with  God  as 
did  Abraham.  For  he  was  reckoned  in  the  Church  with 
those  also  who  were  born  of  him  according  to  the  flesh. 
But  if  our  children  were  not  thus  enumerated  with  the 
parents,  Christ  would  be  sordid  and  hostile  to  us  in 
denying  us  what  He  had  given  to  the  ancients.  It  is 
godless  to  say  this,  for  otherwise  the  entire  prophecy 
concerning  the  call  of  the  Gentiles  would  be  vain. 
Therefore,  since  the  infants  of  Christians,  no  less  than 
the  adults,  are  members  of  the  visible  Church  of  Christ, 
it  is  manifest  that  they  are  no  less  than  the  parents  of  the 
number  of  those  whom  we  judge  elect.  How  godlessly 
and  presumptuously,  therefore,  do  they  judge  who  exe- 
crate the  infants  of  Christians,  when  so  many  clear  testi- 
monies of  Scripture  contradict,  which  declare  that  from 
the  heathen  there  will  be  not  merely  an  equal,  but  even 


Appendix  4^3 

a  larger  Church  than  from  the  Jews.  All  this  will  be 
plainer  when  we  explain  our  faith  concerning  the 
Church. 

Sixthly. —  Of  the  Church,  therefore,  we  thus  think 
—  viz.,  that  in  the  Scriptures  the  word  "  Church  "  is  re- 
ceived in  various  significations.  It  is  received  for  the 
elect  who  have  been  predestinated  by  God's  will  to 
eternal  life.  Of  this  Paul  speaks  when  he  says  that  it 
has  neither  wrinkle  nor  spot.  This  is  known  to  God 
alone,  for,  according  to  the  word  of  Solomon,  He  alone 
knows  the  hearts  of  the  children  of.  men.  But,  never- 
theless, those  who  are  members  of  this  Church,  since 
they  have  faith,  know  that  they  themselves  are  elect  and 
are  members  of  this  first  Church,  but  are  ignorant  of  the 
members  other  than  themselves.  For  thus  it  is  written 
in  Acts  :  "And  as  many  as  were  ordained  to  eternal 
life  believed."  Therefore,  those  who  believe  are  or- 
dained to  eternal  life.  But  no  one,  save  he  who  truly 
believes,  knows  who  truly  believe.  Here,  therefore,  he 
is  already  certain  that  he  is  elect  of  God.  For,  accord- 
ing to  the  Apostle's  word,  he  has  the  seal  of  the  Spirit, 
espoused  and  sealed,  by  which  he  knows  that  he  is  truly 
free,  made  a  son  of  the  family,  and  not  a  slave.  For  the 
Spirit  cannot  deceive.  If  He  tells  us  that  God  is  our 
Father,  and  we  with  certainty  and  confidence  call  Him 
Father,  secure  of  eternal  inheritance,  it  is  certain  that 
God's  Spirit  has  been  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts.  It  is 
therefore  certain  that  he  is  elect  who  is  so  secure  and 
safe,  for  they  who  believe  are  ordained  to  eternal  life. 
Yet  many  are  elect  who  as  yet  have  no  faith.  For  were 
not  the  mother  of  God,  John,  and  Paul,  while  still  in- 
fants, and  even  before  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
elect  ?  But  this  they  knew  neither  from  faith  nor  from 
revelation.     Were  not  Matthew,  Zacchaeus,  the  penitent 


4^4  Huldreich  Zwingli 

thief,  and  Magdalene  elect  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world  ?  Nevertheless,  they  were  ignorant  of  this  until 
they  were  illumined  by  God's  Spirit  and  drawn  to  Christ 
by  the  Father.  From  these  facts,  therefore,  it  is  inferred 
that  this  first  Church  is  known  to  God  alone,  and  that 
they  only  who  have  firm  and  unwavering  faith  know  that 
they  are  its  members. 

Again,  the  Church  is  understood  in  a  universal  sense 
for  all  who  are  reckoned  by  Christ's  name  ;  /.  e.,  who 
have  enlisted  under  Christ,  a  large  number  of  whom 
sensibly  acknowledge  Christ  by  confession  or  participa- 
tion in  the  sacraments,  and  yet  in  heart  either  are  averse 
to  Him  or  ignorant  of  Him.  We  believe,  therefore,  that 
all  who  confess  Christ's  name  belong  to  this  Church. 
Thus  Judas  and  all  who  have  withdrawn  from  Christ 
belonged  to  Christ's  Church.  For  bythe  Apostles  Judas 
was  regarded  as  belonging  to  Christ's  Church  no  less 
than  Peter  or  John,  although  most  remote  from  it.  But 
Christ  knew  who  were  His  and  who  were  the  devil's. 
This  Church,  therefore,  is  perceptibleto  sense,  however 
improperly  in  this  world  the  term  be  used  ;  viz.,  all  who 
confess  Christ,  although  among  them  are  many  repro- 
bates. For  Christ  has  depicted  this  in  the  charming 
parable  of  the  Ten  Virgins,  some  of  whom  were  wise 
and  others  foolish.  This  is  also  sometimes  called  elect, 
although  not  that  first  elect  which' is  without  spot  ;  but 
as  in  man's  judgment  it  is  the  Church  of  God,  because 
of  its  confession  which  is  perceptible  to  sense,  thus  in 
the  same  way  is  it  called  elect.  For  we  judge  that  they 
who  have  enlisted  under  Christ  are  faithful  and  elect. 
Thus  Peter  spake  :  "  To  the  elect  scattered  abroad 
throughout  Pontus,"  etc.  Here  by  "  elect  "  he  means 
all  who  belonged  to  the  churches  to  which  he  is  writing, 
and  not  those  only  who  were  properly  elect  of  God  ; 


Appendix  4^5 


for,  as  they  were  unknown  to  Peter,  he  could  not  have 
written  to  them. 

Lastly  on  this  point. —  The  Church  is  received  for  every 
particular  congregation  of  this  universal  and  perceptible 
Church,  as  the  Church  of  Rome,  of  Augsburg,  of  Lyons. 
There  are  also  other  acceptations  of  "  The  Church,"  which 
it  is  not  worth  while  to  enumerate  here.  Here,  therefore, 
I  believe  that  there  is  one  Church  of  those  who  have 
the  same  Spirit,  who  testifies  to  them  that  they  are  true 
children  of  God's  family  ;  and  this  is  the  first-fruits  of 
the  Church.  I  believe  that  this  does  not  err  in  regard 
to  the  truth  —  namely,  in  those  first  foundations  of  the 
faith  upon  which  everything  depends.  I  believe  also 
that  there  is  one  universal  perceptible  Church  while  it 
maintains  that  true  confession  of  which  we  have  already 
spoken.  I  believe,  also  that  all  belong  to  this  Church 
who  enter  into  it  according  to  the  command  and  promise 
of  God's  Word.  I  believe  also  that  to  this  Church  be- 
long the  infants  Isaac,  Jacob,  Judah,  and  all  who  were 
of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  and  also  those  infants  whose 
parents  among  the  first-fruits  of  the  Church,  under  the 
preaching  of  the  Apostles,  were  won  to  the  side  of  Christ. 
For  if  Isaac  and  the  rest  of  the  ancients  had  not  be- 
longed to  the  Church,  they  would  not  have  received  the 
Church's  token.  Since  these,  then,  were  members  of 
the  Church,  infants  and  children  belonged  to  the  primi- 
tive Church.  Therefore  I  believe  and  know  that  they 
were  sealed  with  the  sacrament  of  baptism.  For  infants 
also  confess  when  they  are  offered  by  their  parents  to 
the  Church,  especially  since  the  promise  offers  them  to 
God,  which  is  made  to  our  infants  no  less,  but  even  far 
more  amply  and  abundantly  than  to  the  ancient  infants 
of  the  Hebrews.  These  are  the  foundations  for  bap- 
tising and  commending  infants  to  the  Church,  against 


466  Huldreich  Zwingli 

which  all  the  weapons  and  machinations  of  the  Anabap- 
tists can  effect  nothing.  For  not  only  are  they  to  be 
baptised  who  believe,  but  they  who  confess,  and  who 
from  the  promises  of  God's  Word  belong  to  the  Church. 
For  otherwise  none  of  the  Apostles  would  have  baptised 
anyone  whatever,  since  there  is  certain  evidence  to 
none  of  the  Apostles  concerning  the  faith  of  the  one 
confessing  and  subscribing.  For  Simon  the  imposter, 
Ananias,  Judas,  and  who  not,  were  baptised  when  they 
gave  their  names,  even  though  they  had  not  faith.  On 
the  other  hand,  Isaac  was  circumcised  as  an  infant, 
when  he  did  not  give  in  his  name  or  believe,  but  the 
promise  gave  his  name.  But  since  our  infants  are  in  the 
same  position  as  those  of  the  Hebrews,  the  promise  also 
gives  their  names  to  our  Church  and  makes  confession. 
Truly,  therefore,  baptism  just  as  circumcision  (for  we 
are  speaking  of  the  sacrament  of  baptism)  requires 
nothing  else  than  either,  on  the  one  hand,  confession  or 
the  giving  in  of  the  name,  or,  on  the  other,  a  covenant 
or  promise.  And  this  will  be  somewhat  clearer  from 
what  follows. 

Seventhly. — I  believe,  yea,  I  know,  that  all  the  sacra- 
ments are  so  far  from  conferring  grace  that  they  do  not 
even  convey  or  distribute  it.  In  this  matter,  most  pow- 
erful Caesar,  I  may  seem  to  thee  perhaps  too  bold.  But 
my  opinion  is  fixed.  For  as  grace  is  produced  or  given 
by  the  Divine  Spirit  (for  when  I  use  the  term  "  grace  " 
I  am  speaking  the  Latin  for  pardon,  /.  e.,  indulgence  and 
gratuitous  kindness),  so  this  gift  pertains  to  the  Spirit 
alone. 

Moreover,  a  channel  or  vehicle  is  not  necessary  to  the 
Si)irit,  for  He  Himself  is  the  virtue  and  energy  whereby 
all  things  are  borne,  and  has  no  need  of  being  borne  ; 
neither  do  we  read  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  that  perceptible 


Appendix  •  4^7 


things,  as  are  the  sacraments,  bear  certainly  with 
them  the  Spirit,  but  if  perceptible  things  have  ever 
been  borne  with  the  Spirit,  it  has  been  the  Spirit,  and 
not  perceptible  things,  that  has  borne  them.  Thus, 
when  the  wind  is  violently  agitated  language  is  conveyed 
by  force  of  the  wind  ;  the  wind  is  not  conveyed  by 
force  of  the  tongues.  Thus,  the  wind  brought  quails, 
and  carried  away  locusts,  but  no  quails  or  locusts  were 
ever  so  fleet  as  to  bring  the  wind.  Thus,  when  such  a 
mighty  wind  passed  before  Elijah  that  it  could  have 
even  removed  the  mountains,  the  Lord  was  not  borne 
in  the  wind,  etc. 

Briefly,  the  Spirit  breathes  wherever  He  wishes  ;  /.  e., 
just  as  the  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest 
the  sound  thereof,  and  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh 
or  whither  it  goeth,  so  is  everyone  that  is  born  of  the 
Spirit ;  /.  <?.,  invisibly  and  imperceptibly  illumined  and 
drawn.  This  the  truth  spake.  Therefore,  the  Spirit  of 
grace  is  conveyed  not  by  this  mersion,  not  by  this 
draught,  not  by  this  anointing  ;  for  if  it  were  thus  it 
would  be  known  how,  where,  whence,  and  whither  the 
Spirit  is  given. 

For  if  the  presence  and  efficacy  of  grace  are  bound 
to  the  sacraments,  they  work  where  these  are  conveyed  ; 
and  where  these  are  not  applied  all  things  languish. 
Neither  is  it  the  case  that  theologians  allege  this  as 
material  or  subject,  because  the  disposition  for  this  is 
first  required  ;  /.  e.,  because  the  grace  of  baptism  or  the 
Eucharist  (for  thus  they  speak)  is  conferred  on  one  who 
is  first  prepared  for  this.  For  he  who  through  the  sacra- 
ments receives  according  to  them  this  grace,  either  pre- 
pares himself  for  this  or  is  prepared  by  the  Spirit.  If  he 
prepares  himself,  we  can  do  something  of  ourselves,  and 
prevenient  grace  is  nothing.     If  he  be  prepared  by  the 


468  Huldreich  Zwingli 

Spirit  for  the  reception  of  grace,  I  ask  whether  this  be 
done  through  the  sacrament  as  a  channel  or  without  the 
sacrament  ?  If  the  sacrament  intervene,  man  is  prepared 
by  the  sacrament  for  the  sacrament,  and  thus  there  will 
be  a  process  ad  ijifitiitum  ;  for  a  sacrament  will  always 
be  required  as  a  preparation  for  a  sacrament.  But  if 
we  be  prepared  without  the  sacrament  for  the  reception 
of  sacramental  grace,  the  Spirit  is  present  in  His  kindness 
before  the  sacrament,  and  hence  grace  is  both  rendered 
and  is  present  before  the  sacrament  is  administered. 
From  this  it  is  inferred  (as  I  willingly  and  gladly  admit 
in  regard  to  the  subject  of  the  sacraments)  that  the  sac- 
raments are  given  as  a  public  testimony  of  that  grace 
which  is  previously  present  to  every  individual.  This 
baptism  is  administered  in  the  presence  of  the  Church 
to  one  who  before  receiving  it  either  confessed  the 
religion  of  Christ,  or  has  the  word  of  promise  whereby 
he  is  known  to  belong  to  the  Church.  Hence  it  is  that 
when  we  baptise  an  adult  we  ask  him  whether  he  be- 
lieves. If  he  answer.  Yea,  then  at  length  he  receives 
baptism.  Faith,  therefore,  has  been  present  before  he 
receives  baptism.  Faith,  then,  is  not  given  in  baptism. 
But  when  an  infant  is  offered  the  question  is  asked 
whether  its  parents  offer  it  for  baptism.  When  they  re- 
ply through  witnesses  that  they  wish  it  baptised,  the 
infant  is  baptised.  Here  also  God's  promise  precedes, 
that  He  regards  our  infants  as  belonging  to  the  Church 
no  less  than  those  of  the  Hebrews.  For  when  they  who 
are  of  the  Church  offer  it,  the  infant  is  baptised  under 
the  law  that  since  it  has  been  born  of  Christians  it  is  re- 
garded by  the  divine  promise  among  the  members  of  the 
Church.  By  baptism,  therefore,  the  Church  publicly  re- 
ceives one  who  had  previously  been  received  through 
grace.     Baptism,  therefore,  does  not  bring   grace,  but 


Appendix  469 

testifies  to  the  Church  that  grace  has  been  given  for  him 
to  whom  it  is  administered. 

I  believe,  therefore,  O  Emperor,  that  a  sacrament  is  a 
sign  of  a  sacred  thing — /.  ^.,  of  grace  that  has  been  given. 
I  believe  that  it  is  a  visible  figure  or  form  of  invisible 
grace — viz.,  which  has  been  provided  and  given  by  God's 
bounty  ;  /.  e.,  a  visible  example  which  presents  an  ana- 
logy to  something  done  by  the  Spirit.  I  believe  that  it  is 
a  public  testimony.  As  when  we  are  baptised  the  body 
is  washed  with  the  purest  element,  but  by  this  it  is  signi- 
fied that  by  the  grace  of  divine  goodness  we  have  been 
drawn  into  the  assembly  of  the  Church  and  God's  people, 
wherein  we  ought  to  live  pure  and  guiltless.  Thus  Paul 
explains  the  mysteryin  Romans  vi.  He  testifies, therefore, 
that  he  who  receives  baptism  is  of  the  Church  of  God, 
which  worships  its  Lord  in  integrity  of  faith  and  purity 
of  life.  For  this  reason  the  sacraments,  which  are  holy 
ceremonies  (for  the  Word  is  added  to  the  element,  and 
it  becomes  a  sacrament),  should  be  religiously  cherished, 
/.  e.,  highly  valued,  and  should  be  treated  with  respect ; 
for  while  they  are  unable  to  give  grace  they  nevertheless 
associate  visibly  with  the  Church,  us  who  have  pre- 
viously been  received  into  it  invisibly  ;  and  this  should 
be  esteemed  with  the  highest  devotion  when  declared 
and  published  in  their  administration,  together  with  the 
words  of  the  divine  institution.  For  if  we  think  other- 
wise of  the  sacraments,  as  that  when  externally  used  they 
cleanse  internally,  Judaism  is  restored,  which  believed 
that  crimes  were  expiated,  and  grace,  as  it  were,  pur- 
chased and  obtained,  by  various  anointings,  ointments, 
offerings,  victims,  and  banquets.  Nevertheless,  the 
prophets,  especially  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  always  most 
steadfastly  urged  in  their  teaching  that  the  promises  and 
benefits  of  God  are  given  by  God's  liberality,  and  not 


470  Huldreich  Zvvingli 

with  respect  to  merits  or  external  ceremonies.  I  believe 
also  that  the  Anabaptists  in  denying  baptism  to  the  in- 
fants of  believers  are  entirely  wrong  ;  and  not  here  only, 
but  also  in  many  other  things,  of  which  there  is  no  oppor- 
tunity to  speak.  To  avoid  their  folly  or  malice,  relying 
upon  God's  aid,  and  not  without  danger,  I  have  been  the 
first  to  teach  and  write  against  them,  so  that  now,  by  God's 
goodness,  this  pestilence  among  us  has  greatly  abated  ; 
so  far  am  I  from  receiving,  teaching,  or  defending  any- 
thing of  this  seditious  faction. 

Eighthly. — I  believe  that  in  the  holy  Eucharist —  /.  e., 
the  supper  of  thanksgiving  —  the  true  body  of  Christ  is 
present  by  the  contemplation  of  faith  ;  /.  e.,  that  they 
who  thank  the  Lord  for  the  kindness  conferred  on  us  in 
His  Son  acknowledge  that  He  assumed  true  flesh,  in  it 
truly  suffered,  truly  washed  away  our  sins  in  His  own 
blood  ;  and  thus  everything  done  by  Christ  becomes 
present  to  them  by  the  contemplation  of  faith.  But  that 
the  body  of  Christ  in  essence  and  really — /.  ^.,  the  natural 
body  itself  —  is  either  present  in  the  supper  or  masti- 
cated with  our  mouth  or  teeth,  as  the  Papists  and  some 
who  long  for  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt  assert,  we  not  only 
deny,  but  firmly  maintain  is  an  error  opposed  to  God's 
Word.  This,  with  the  divine  assistance,  I  will  in  a  few 
words,  O  Emperor,  make  as  clear  as  the  sun.  First,  by 
citing  the  divine  oracles  ;  secondly,  by  attacking  the 
adversaries  with  arguments  derived  therefrom,  as  with 
military  engines  ;  lastly,  by  showing  that  the  ancient 
theologians  held  our  opinion.  Thou,  meanwhile.  Creator 
Spirit,  be  present,  enlighten  the  minds  of  Thy  peoi)le,  and 
fill  with  grace  and  light  the  hearts  that  Thou  hast  created ! 

Christ  Himself,  the  mouth  and  the  wisdom  of  God,  has 
said  :  "  The  poor  always  ye  have  with  you,  but  me  ye 
have  not  always."     Here  the  presence  of  the  body  alone 


Appendix  47i 


is  denied,  for  according  to  His  divinity  he  is  always  pre- 
sent, because  He  is  always  everywhere,  according  to  His 
word  :  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of 
the  world  "  ;  viz.,  according  to  divinity,  truth,  and  good- 
ness. Augustine  agrees  with  us.  Neither  is  there  any 
foundation  for  the  assertion  of  the  adversaries  that  the 
humanity  of  Christ  is  wherever  the  divinity  is,  and  that 
otherwise  the  person  is  divided  ;  for  this  would  destroy 
Christ's  true  humanity. 

For  nothing  but  God  can  be  everywhere.  And  that 
humanity  is  in  one  place,  but  divinity  everywhere,  does 
not  thus  divide  the  person  ;  just  as  the  Son's  assumption 
of  humanity  does  not  divide  the  unity  of  essence.  Yea, 
it  would  be  more  effectual  for  separating  unity  of  essence 
if  one  person  assumes  to  itself  a  creature  which  the  rest 
do  not  at  all  assume,  than  it  is  for  separating  the  person, 
that  humanity  is  in  one  place,  but  divinity  everywhere, 
since  we  see  even  in  creatures  that  bodies  are  confined 
to  one  place,  but  their  power  and  virtue  are  most  widely 
diffused.  The  sun  is  an  example,  whose  body  is  in  one 
place,  while  his  virtue  pervades  all  things.  The  human 
soul  also  surmounts  the  stars  and  penetrates  hell,  but  the 
body  is  nevertheless  in  one  place. 

Again  He  says  :  "  Again  I  leave  the  world,  and  go  to 
the  Father."  Here  the  word  "  to  leave  "  is  used,  just  as 
"  to  have  "  before,  so  that  the  adversaries  cannot  say, 
"  We  do  not  have  Him  visibly."  For  when  He  speaks  of 
the  visible  withdrawal  of  His  body,  He  says  :  "  A  little 
while  and  ye  shall  not  see  me,"  etc.  Neither  would  any- 
thing but  a  delusion  be  supported  if  we  were  to  contend 
that  His  natural  body  is  present,  but  invisible.  For  why 
would  He  evade  sight  when  He  nevertheless  would  be 
here  who  so  often  manifested  Himself  to  the  disciples  after 
the  resurrection  ?  "  But  it  is  expedient  for  you,"  He  says, 


472  Huldreich  Zwingli 

"that  I  go  away."  But  if  He  were  here  it  would  not  be 
expedient  that  we  should  not  see  Him.  For  as  often  as 
the  disciples  were  bewildered  at  seeing  Him,  He  Himself 
openly  manifested  Himself,  so  that  neither  sense  nor 
thought  might  suffer  in  aught.  "  Handle  me,"  He  says  ; 
and,  "  Touch  me  not,"  "  I  am,"  etc.,  and,  "  Mary,  touch 
me  not,"  etc. 

When  in  departing  He  commended  the  disciples  to  His 
Father,  He  said  :  "  I  am  no  more  in  the  world."  Here 
we  have  in  "  I  am  no  more  in  the  world  "  the  substantive 
verb,  no  less  than  in  the  words  :  "  This  is  my  body  "  ;  so 
that  the  adversaries  cannot  say  that  there  is  a  trope 
here,  since  they  deny  that  substantives  admit  of  the 
trope.  But  the  case  has  no  need  of  such  arguments,  for 
there  follows  :  "  But  these  are  in  the  world."  The 
antithesis  clearly  teaches  that  He  is  not,  according  to  His 
human  nature,  in  the  world  when  His  disciples  are. 

And  that  we  may  know  when  He  took  his  departure — 
not,  as  they  fabricate  rather  than  explain,  when  He  ren- 
dered Himself  invisible — Luke  says  :  "  While  he  blessed 
them  he  was  parted  from  them,  and  carried  up  into 
heaven."  He  does  not  say:  "He  vanished"  or  "ren- 
dered Himself  invisible."  Of  this  Mark  says  :  "  After 
the  Lord  had  spoken  unto  them  he  was  received  up  into 
heaven,  and  sat  at  the  right  hand  of  God."  He  does  not 
say  :  "  He  remained  here,  but  rendered  His  body  invisi- 
ble." Luke  again  says  in  Acts  :  "  When  he  had  spoken 
these  things  while  they  beheld,  he  was  taken  up  and  a  cloud 
received  him  out  of  their  sight."  A  cloud  covered  Him, 
whereof  there  would  have  been  no  need  if  He  had  only 
removed  His  appearance  and  otherwise  have  continued 
present.  Nor  would  there  have  been  need  of  removal 
or  elevation.  Again  :  "  This  same  Jesus  which  is  taken 
up  from  you  into  heaven  shall  so  come  in  like  manner 


Appendix  473 

as  ye  have  seen  him  go  into  heaven."  What  more  clear 
than  this  ?  "  From  you,"  he  says,  "  he  was  taken  up  "  ; 
therefore.  He  was  not  with  them,  either  visibly  or  in- 
visibly, according  to  His  human  nature.  When,  then,  we 
shall  see  Him  return  as  He  departed,  we  shall  know  that 
He  is  present.  Otherwise  He  sits,  according  to  His 
human  nature,  at  the  right  hand  of  His  Father  until  He 
return  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead. 

But  since  there  are  some  who  deprive  Christ  of  place, 
and  say  that  He  is  not  in  a  place,  let  them  see  how 
clearly,  although  with  shut  eyes,  they  antagonise  the 
truth.  He  was  in  the  manger,  on  the  cross,  at  Jerusalem 
when  His  parents  were  on  their  journey,  in  the  sepulchre 
and  out  of  the  sepulchre  ;  for  the  angel  says  :  "  He  is 
risen  ;  he  is  not  here  :  behold  the  place  where  they  laid 
him."  And  that  they  may  not  be  able  to  say  that  His 
body  is  everywhere,  let  them  hear  :  "  When  the  doors 
were  shut,  Jesus  came  and  stood  in  their  midst."  What 
need  had  He  of  coming  if  His  body  is  everywhere,  but  in- 
visibly ?  It  would  have  been  enough  not  to  come,  but 
only  as  one  who  was  present  to  manifest  Himself. 

But  let  us  bid  farewell  to  such  sophistical  trifles  that 
destroy  for  us  the  truth  both  of  Christ's  humanity  and  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  These  testimonies  deny  the  pre- 
sence of  Christ's  body  anywhere  else  but  in  heaven  by 
speaking  canonically  —  /.  ^.,  so  far  as  the  Scripture  is 
manifest  with  respect  to  the  nature  and  properties  of  the 
assumed  body.  And  whatever  contradiction  the  things 
which  we  propose  to  ourselves  concerning  God's  power 
compel,  yet  this  must  not  be  so  tortured  as  to  compel  us 
to  believe  that  God  acts  contrary  to  His  Word.  For  this 
would  belong  to  impotency,  and  not  to  power.  More- 
over, that  the  natural  body  of  Christ  is  not  eaten  with 
our  mouth,  He  Himself  showed  when  He  said  to  the  Jews 


474  Huldreich  Zwingli 

disputing  concerning  the  corporal  eating  of  his  flesh  : 
"  The  flesh  profiteth  nothing  "  —  viz.,  for  eating  natur- 
ally, but  for  eating  spiritually  much,  as  it  gives  life. 

"That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh  ;  and  that 
which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit."  If,  therefore,  the 
natural  body  of  Christ  is  eaten  by  our  mouth,  what  but 
flesh  will  be  produced  from  flesh  naturally  masticated  ? 
And  lest  the  argument  should  seem  unimportant  to  any- 
one, let  him  hear  the  second  part  :  "  That  which  is  born 
of  the  Spirit  is  spirit."  Therefore,  that  which  is  spirit  is 
born  of  the  Spirit.  If,  then,  the  flesh  of  Christ  is  salu- 
tary to  the  soul,  it  should  be  eaten  spiritually,  not  carnally. 
This  also  pertains  to  the  substance  of  the  sacraments,  that 
Spirit  is  generated  of  spirit,  and  not  of  any  corporeal  mat- 
ter, as  we  have  previously  indicated. 

Paul  teaches  that  if  he  once  knew  Christ  according  to 
the  flesh,  henceforth  he  will  know  Him  no  more  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh. 

By  these  passages  we  are  compelled  to  confess  that  the 
words  :  "  This  is  my  body,"  should  be  received  not 
naturally,  but  figuratively,  just  as  the  words  :  "  This  is 
the  passover."  For  the  lamb  that  was  eaten  every  year 
with  the  celebration  of  the  festival  was  not  the  passover, 
but  signified  that  the  passover  and  omission  had  been 
formerly  made.  To  this  is  added  the  succession,  since 
the  passover  was  succeeded  by  the  Lord's  Supper,  which 
teaches  that  Christ  used  similar  words  ;  for  succession 
observes  imitation.  The  same  composition  of  words  is 
an  additional  argument.  So  is  the  time  since,  at  the  same 
Supper,  the  old  passover  is  discontinued,  and  the  new 
Eucharist  is  instituted.  The  proper  signification  of  all 
memorials  is  a  further  confirmation  which  gives  it  its 
name,  whereof  they  make  mention  as  "  commemoration." 

Thus  the  Athenians  named  ffeiffdxOeia  [disburdening 


Appendix  475 

ordinance],  not  as  though  the  debt  were  lowered  every 
year,  but  because  what  Solon  once  did  they  continually 
celebrate  ;  and  this  their  celebration  they  dignify  with 
the  name  of  the  thing  itself.  Thus  those  things  are 
called  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  which  are  the  sym- 
bols of  the  true  body.     Now  follow  the  arguments  : 

As  the  body  cannot  be  fed  upon  a  spiritual  substance, 
so  the  soul  cannot  be  fed  upon  a  bodily  substance.  But 
if  the  natural  body  of  Christ  is  eaten,  I  ask  whether  it 
feed  body  or  soul.  Not  the  body  ;  then  the  soul.  If 
the  soul,  then  the  soul  is  nourished  by  meats,  and  it  is 
not  true  that  Spirit  is  born  only  of  spirit. 

In  the  second  place,  I  ask  :  What  does  the  body  of 
Christ  render  naturally  perfect  ?  If  the  forgiveness  of 
sins,  as  the  one  side  claims,  then  the  disciples  obtained  the 
forgiveness  of  sins  in  the  Holy  Supper,  and  Christ  there- 
fore died  in  vain.  If  that  which  is  eaten  imparts  the 
virtue  of  Christ's  passion,  as  the  same  side  claims,  then 
the  virtue  of  the  passion  and  redemption  was  imparted 
before  it  was  acquired.  If  the  body  is  fed  for  the 
resurrection,  as  another  very  ignorantly  asserts,  then 
would  it  much  more  heal  and  relieve  of  sickness  our 
body.  But  Irenaeus  wishes  it  to  be  understood  other- 
wise when  he  says  that  our  body  is  nourished  by  Christ's 
body  for  the  resurrection.  For  he  desires  to  show  that 
the  hope  of  our  resurrection  is  strengthened  by  Christ's 
resurrection.     An  appropriate  figure  ! 

Thirdly. — If  the  natural  body  of  Christ  was  given  His 
disciples  in  the  Supper,  it  necessarily  follows  that  they 
ate  it  such  as  it  then  was.  But  it  was  then  susceptible 
of  suffering  ;  they  ate,  therefore,  the  vulnerable  body, 
for  it  was  not  yet  glorified.  For  when  they  say  :  They 
ate  the  same  body,  yet  not  susceptible  to  suffering  as  it 
was,  but  the  same  as  it  was  after  the  resurrection,  we 


47^  Huldreich  Zwingli 

object.  Therefore  He  either  had  two  bodies,  of  which 
one  was  glorified  and  the  other  was  not,  or  the  one  and 
the  same  body  was  at  the  same  time  susceptible  and  un- 
susceptible to  suffering.  Thus,  too,  since  He  greatly 
dreaded  death,  He  was  undoubtedly  willing  not  to  suffer, 
and  to  use  that  bodily  endowment  whereby  He  was  free 
from  pain.  Therefore  He  did  not  truly  suffer,  but  in  hy- 
pocrisy ;  whereby  Marcion  is  recalled  by  these  gladiators. 
Six  hundred  arguments,  O  Emperor,  could  be  adduced, 
but  we  are  content  now  with  these. 

Moreover,  that  the  ancients  agree  with  us  on  the  last 
part  of  this  article  I  will  establish  by  two  witnesses,  and 
those,  too,  of  the  first  rank,  viz.: 

By  Ambrose,  who  in  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinth- 
ians.says  concerning  "Ye  do  show  forth  the  Lord's 
death "  :  "  For  as  by  the  Lord's  death  we  have  been 
freed,  mindful  of  this,  in  eating  and  drinking  we  declare 
the  flesh  and  blood  that  were  offered  for  us,"  etc.  Am- 
brose, moreover,  is  speaking  of  the  food  and  drink  of 
the  Supper,  and  asserts  that  we  declare  those  very  objects 
that  were  offered  for  us. 

By  Augustine  also,  who  in  his  thirtieth  discourse  on 
John  says  that  the  body  of  Christ  that  rose  from  the  dead 
must  be  in  one  place.  Here  the  printed  copies  have 
"  can  be  "  instead  of  "  must  be,"  but  incorrectly,  for  in  the 
Master  of  "  Sentences  "  [Peter  Lombard]  and  the  Canoni- 
cal Decrees,  into  which  this  judgment  of  Augustine  was 
transferred,  the  word  *'  must  "  is  read.  By  this  we  clearly 
see  that  whatever  they  spake  excellently  concerning  the 
Supper,  they  understood  not  of  the  natural  but  of  the 
spiritual  eating  of  Christ's  body.  For  when  they  knew  that 
the  body  of  Christ  must  be  in  one  place,  and  that  it  is  at 
the  right  hand  of  God,  they  did  not  withdraw  it  thence 
to  submit  it  for  mastication  by  the  fetid  teeth  of  men. 


Appendix  477 

Augustine  likewise  te^iches  in  the  twelfth  chapter 
"  Against  Adimantus  "  that  the  three  expressions  :  "  The 
blood  is  the  life,"  and  "  This  is  my  body,"  and  "  The 
rock  was  Christ,"  were  spoken  symbolically — /.  e.,  as  he 
himself  says,  in  a  figure  and  figuratively.  And  among 
many  other  things  he  at  length  comes  to  these  words  : 
"  I  can  interpret  that  command  as  prescribed  for  a  sign. 
For  the  Lord  did  not  hesitate  to  say  :  *  This  is  my  body  ' 
when  he  gave  a  sign  of  his  body."  Thus  far  Augustine. 
Lo,  a  key  for  us  whereby  we  can  unlock  all  the  declara- 
tions of  the  ancients  concerning  the  Eucharist  !  That 
which  is  only  a  sign  of  the  body  he  says  is  called  the  body. 

Let  them  who  wish  go  now  and  condemn  us  for  heresy, 
while  they  know  that  by  the  same  work,  contrary  to  the 
decrees  of  the  pontiffs,  they  are  condemning  the  sup- 
port of  theologians.  For  from  these  facts  it  becomes 
very  manifest  that  the  ancients  always  spoke  symboli- 
cally when  they  attributed  so  much  to  the  eating  of  the 
body  of  Christ  in  the  Supper  ;  viz.,  not  that  sacramental 
manducation  could  cleanse  the  soul,  but  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  spiritual  manducation, 
whereof  these  external  things  are  symbol  and  shadow. 
And  as  bread  sustains  the  body  and  wine  enlivens  and 
exhilarates,  thus  it  strengthens  the  soul  and  assures  it  of 
God's  mercy  that  He  has  given  us  His  Son  ;  thus  it 
refreshes  the  mind  by  the  confidence  that,  by  His  blood, 
the  sins  with  which  it  was  being  consumed  were 
destroyed.  We  will  now  be  content  with  these  passages, 
although  anyone  could  compile  entire  volumes  in  explain- 
ing and  confirming  the  fact  that  the  ancients  are  of  our- 
opinion. 

Neither  can  the  pamphlet  recently  published  concern- 
ing tlie  opinion  of  the  ancients,  which  it  expressly  pro- 
mises to  defend,  move  anyone.      For  in  a  short  time  we 


47^  Huldreich  Zwingli 

will  see  the  refutation  of  our  very  learned  brother  CEco- 
Inmpadius,  the  province  of  whose  exordium  it  is  to  insert 
the  opinion  of  the  ancients  ;  and  I  think  that  we  who 
are  of  this  opinion  have  sufficiently  exhibited  in  many 
volumes,  written  to  different  persons,  what  in  this  matter 
can  be  required  for  the  clearer  explanation  or  confuta- 
tion of  the  adversaries. 

Ninthly. — I  believe  that  ceremonies  which  are  neither, 
through  superstition,  contrary  to  faith  or  God's  Word 
(although  I  do  not  know  whether  such  be  found),  can 
be  tolerated  by  charity  until  the  Day-star  arise.  But  at 
the  same  time  I  believe  that  by  the  same  charity  as  mis- 
tress the  ceremonies  mentioned  should  be  abolished 
when  it  can  be  done  without  great  offence,  however 
much  they  who  are  of  a  faithless  mind  may  clamour.  For 
Christ  did  not  prohibit  Magdalene  from  pouring  out  the 
ointment,  although  the  avarice  and  dishonesty  of  Judas 
made  a  disturbance.  Images,  moreover,  that  are  prosti- 
tuted for  worship,  I  do  not  reckon  among  ceremonies,  but 
among  the  number  of  those  things  that  conflict  diame- 
trically with  God's  Word.  But  I  am  so  far  from  con- 
demning those  that  are  not  offered  for  worship  that  I 
acknowledge  both  painting  and  statuary  as  God's  gifts. 

Tenthly. — The  work  of  prophecy  or  preaching  I  believe 
to  be  most  holy,  so  that  above  any  other  duty  it  is  in 
the  highest  degree  necessary.  For  in  speaking  canoni- 
cally  or  regularly  we  see  that  among  all  nations  the  out- 
ward preaching  of  evangelists  or  bishops  has  preceded 
faith,  which  we  nevertheless  say  is  received  by  the  Spirit 
alone.  For,  alas  !  We  see  very  many  who  hear  the  out- 
ward preaching  of  the  Gospel,  but  believe  not,  because 
a  dearth  of  the  Spirit  has  occurred.  Whithersoever, 
then,  prophets  or  preachers,  of  the  Word  are  sent,  it  is 
a  sign  of  God's  grace  that  He  wishes   to  manifest  the 


Appendix  479 

knowledge  of  Himself  to  His  elect  ;  and  where  they  are 
denied,  it  is  a  sign  of  impending  wrath.  This  can  be 
inferred  from  the  prophets  and  the  example  of  Paul, 
who  was  sometimes  forbidden  to  go  to  some  and  at  other 
times  was  called.  But  the  laws  themselves  and  the 
magistrates  can  be  assisted  in  maintaining  public  justice 
by  no  means  more  effectually  than  by  prophecy.  For 
in  vain  is  that  which  is  just  taught  unless  they  upon 
whom  it  is  enjoined  have  regard  for  what  is  just  and 
love  equity.  But  for  this  the  minds  are  prepared 
by  the  prophets  as  ministers,  and  by  the  Spirit  as  the 
author  both  of  teacher  and  of  hearer.  This  kind  of 
ministers  —  viz.,  they  who  teach,  console,  terrify,  care 
for,  and  faithfully  watch  —  we  acknowledge  among 
Christ's  people.  That  also  we  acknowledge  which 
baptises,  administers  in  the  Lord's  Supper  the  body 
and  blood  (for  thus  we  also  by  metonymy  name  the 
holy  bread  and  wine  of  the  Supper),  visits  the  sick, 
and  feeds  the  poor  from  the  resources  and  in  the  name 
of  the  Church  ;  that,  finally,  which  reads,  interprets,  and 
makes  confession  of  that  whereby  either  they  themselves 
or  others  are  prepared  for  presiding  at  some  time  over 
the  churches.  But  this  mitred  and  withered  race,  which 
is  a  large  number,  born  to  consume  food,  we  believe  is 
a  useless,  spurious  weight  upon  the  earth,  and  that  it  is 
in  the  ecclesiastical,  what  humpbacks  and  scrofula  are 
in  the  human  body. 

Eleventhly. — I  know  that  the  magistrate,  when  properly 
inaugurated,  holds  God's  place  no  less  than  the  prophet. 
For  as  a  prophet  is  a  minister  of  heavenly  wisdom  and 
goodness,  as  he  faithfully  teaches  and  brings  errors  to 
light,  so  the  magistrate  is  the  minister  of  goodness  and 
justice.  He  is  the  minister  of  goodness,  with  fidelity 
and  moderation  like  God,  both  to  hear  and  to  deliberate 


480  Huldreich  Zwingli 

upon  the  affairs  of  the  people — of  justice,  to  restrain  the 
wantonness  of  the  ungodly  and  to  guard  the  innocent. 
If  a  prince  have  these  endowments,  I  believe  that  his 
conscience  has  nothing  to  fear.  If  he  lack  these,  and 
yet  render  himself  an  object  of  fear  and  terror,  I  believe 
that  his  conscience  can  in  no  way  be  cleared  upon  the 
ground  that  he  has  been  properly  inaugurated.  Yet,  at 
the  same  time,  I  believe  that  a  Christian  should  obey 
such  a  tyrant,  even  to  the  occasion  whereof  Paul  says  : 
"  If  thou  mayst  be  made  free,  use  it  rather."  Neverthe- 
less, I  believe  that  this  is  indicated  by  God  alone,  and 
not  by  man  ;  and  this  not  obscurely,  but  as  openly  as 
when  Saul  was  rejected  and  received  David  as  succes- 
sor. And  with  Paul  I  think  concerning  rendering 
tribute  and  custom  for  protection,  Romans,  xiii. 

Twelfthly. — I  believe  that  the  figment  of  the  purgato- 
rial fire  is  as  detrimental  to  the  gratuitous  redemption  be- 
stowed through  Christ  as  it  was  lucrative  to  its  authors. 
For  if  it  is  necessary  by  punishments  and  tortures  to  ex- 
piate the  merits  of  our  crimes,  Christ  will  have  died  in 
vain  and  faith  will  have  been  made  void.  What  more 
wicked  in  a  Christian  can  be  imagined  ?  Or  what  sort 
of  Christ  do  they  have  who  wish  to  be  called  Christians 
and  yet  dread  this  fire,  which  is  no  longer  fire,  but  smoke  ? 
That  there  is  a  hell  where  the  faithless  and  ignominious 
and  public  enemies  are  punished  with  Ixion  and  Tantalus 
I  not  only  believe,  but  know.  For  when  the  truth  speaks 
of  the  universal  judgment,  it  asserts  that  after  this  judg- 
ment some  will  go  into  everlasting  fire.  After  the  uni- 
versal judgment,  therefore,  there  will  be  everlasting 
fire.  That  this  is  endless  eternity  the  Anabaptists  can- 
not disguise  by  their  error  that  "  for  ever  "  does  not 
last  beyond  the  general  judgment.  For  here  Christ  is 
speaking   of   everlasting  fire  that  will    burn   after   the 


Appendix  481 

judgment,  and  will  torture  the  devil  and  his  angels,  and 
the  ungodly  who  despise  God,  and  the  cruel  who  suppress 
the  truth  with  falsehood  and  do  not  mercifully  and  faith- 
fully aid  the  necessities  of  their  neighbour. 

The  above  I  firmly  believe,  teach,  and  maintain,  not 
from  my  own  oracles,  but  from  those  of  the  Divine  Word  ; 
and,  God  willing,  I  promise  to  do  this  as  long  as  life  con- 
trols these  members,  unless  someone  from  the  declara- 
tions of  Holy  Scripture,  properly  understood,  explain  and 
establish  the  reverse  as  clearly  and  plainly  as  we  have 
established  the  above.  For  it  is  no  less  grateful  and  de- 
lightful than  fair  and  just  for  us  to  submit  our  judgments 
to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  Church  deciding  accord- 
ing to  them  by  the  Spirit.  We  could  explain  all  things 
more  amply,  but  since  there  is  no  occasion,  we  are  con- 
tent with  the  above,  which  we  regard  such  that  while  at 
them  anyone  can  readily  carp,  as  is  so  customary  to-day, 
yet  no  one  can  overthrow.  But  if  anyone  make  the  at- 
tempt he  will  not  escape  unpunished.  Then  perhaps  we 
will  produce  the  arms  we  have  in  reserve.  Now  we  have 
declared  enough  for  the  present. 

Wherefore,  most  excellent  Emperor  and  other  princes, 
rulers,  nobles,  and  deputies,  and  heads  of  States,  I  beseech 
and  implore  you,  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  and  Brother, 
by  His  goodness  and  justice,  by  the  verdict  which  He  will 
render  all  according  to  their  merits,  whom  no  delibera- 
tion escapes,  who  brings  to  confusion  the  designs  of 
princes  that  take  counsel  and  rule  godlessly,  who  exalts 
the  humble  and  abases  the  proud,  in  the  first  place  not 
to  neglect  the  lowliness  of  the  petitioner.  For  the  foolish 
often  have  spoken  opportunely,  and  the  truth  itself 
chooses  for  its  publication  weak  men  and  those  of  the 
lowest  class.     Secondly,  remember  that  you  too  are  men, 


4^2  Huldreich  Zwingli 

who  yourselves  also  are  capable  of  being  deceived  by 
others.  For  every  man  is  a  liar.  And  unless  something 
else  be  taught  by  inspiration  of  God  than  what  he  him- 
self either  knows  or  desires,  nothing  is  to  be  hoped  of 
him  than  that  he  will  be  destroyed  by  his  own  arts  and 
plans.  For  with  too  much  truth  the  prophet  Jeremiah  has 
said  :  "  Lo,  they  have  rejected  the  Word  of  the  Lord  ; 
and  what  wisdom  is  in  them  ?  "  Wherefore,  since  ye  are 
the  priests  of  justice,  none  are  so  bound  to  thoroughly 
learn  God's  will.  But  whence  can  this  be  sought  but 
from  His  oracles  ?  Be  not  averse,  therefore,  to  the  opin- 
ions of  those  who  rely  upon  God's  Word.  For  we  see  it 
generally  happen  that  the  more  adversaries  assail  the 
truth,  so  much  the  more  does  it  shine  forth  and  is  false- 
hood banished.  But  if,  as  it  does  not  escape  me,  there 
are  those  with  you  who  zealously  defame  us  as  ignorant, 
and,  if  God  please,  also  as  malicious,  consider,  in  the  first 
place,  whether  we  who  adopt  this  view  of  the  Gospel 
and  the  Eucharist,  have  ever  so  conducted  our  lives  that 
any  good  man  would  ever  doubt  as  to  whether  we  should 
be  regarded  as  among  good  men.  Secondly,  whether 
from  our  very  infancy  talent  and  literary  culture  were  so 
distant  from  us  that  all  hope  of  our  learning  had  to  be 
rejected.  Certainly  we  boast  of  neither  of  these,  since 
even  Paul  was  what  he  was  by  the  grace  of  God.  If 
even  a  very  cheerful  life  has  been  our  lot,  nevertheless 
this  has  never  deviated  to  luxury  and  shamelessness,  nor, 
on  the  other  hand,  degenerated  into  cruelty,  arrogance, 
or  obstinacy  ;  so  that  the  designs  of  our  adversaries, 
often  confounded  by  the  testimony  of  our  life,  have 
sounded  a  retreat.  Our  learning,  although  greater  than 
our  enemies  either  could  bear  or  without  conscience 
despise,  is,  notwithstanding,  far  less  than  our  followers 
think  we  possess.     However,   that  we  may   reach    that 


Appendix  483 

towards  which  we  are  aiming,  we  have  performed  such 
service,  not  only  in  sacred,  but  also  in  profane  literature, 
that  what  we  teach  is  not  at  random.  Let  it  be  per- 
mitted us,  moreover,  to  praise  the  grace  and  munificence 
of  God  so  liberally  communicated  to  our  churches.  The 
churches  that  hear  the  Lord  God  through  us  have  indeed 
so  received  the  Word  of  God  that  falsehood  and  dis- 
honesty are  diminished,  pride  and  luxury  subdued,  and 
reproaches  and  wrangling  have  departed.  If  these  are 
not  certainly  true  fruits  of  divine  inspiration,  what  will 
they  be  ?  Consider,  most  excellent  Emperor  and  all 
ye  princes  and  nobles,  what  good  fruit  of  human  doc- 
trine a  person  has  produced  for  us.  As  the  purchased 
masses  increased  the  lust  and  impudence  of  both  princes 
and  people,  so  they  both  introduced  and  extended  the 
luxury  of  the  pontiffs  and  the  excesses  of  the  ministrants 
of  the  mass.  Yea,  what  crime  did  they  not  kindle  ?  For 
who  will  scatter  the  wealth  accumulated  by  the  mass  if  it 
be  not  stopped  and  held  fast  in  their  veins  ? 

May  God,  therefore,  who  is  far  better  than  you  all, 
whom  we  gladly  both  call  and  believe  to  be  most  excel- 
lent men,  grant  that  you  may  undertake  to  extirpate  the 
roots  of  all  errors  in  the  Church,  and  to  leave  and  de- 
sert Rome  with  her  rubbish  that  she  has  obtruded  upon 
the  Christian  world,  and  especially  upon  your  Germany. 

Whatever  force,  too,  you  have  heretofore  exerted 
against  the  purity  of  the  Gospel  may  you  direct  against 
the  criminal  attempts  of  ungodly  Papists,  that  justice  to 
us  which  has  been  banished  by  your  indifference,  and 
our  innocence  which  has  been  obscured  by  artful  misrep- 
resentations, may  be  established.  Enough  cruelty  has 
been  exercised,  unless  it  be  not  savage  and  cruel  without 
a  just  ground  to  make  charges,  to  condemn — ay,  to 
slaughter,  kill,  rob,   interdict.     Since   success   has    not 


484  Huldreich  Zwingli 

followed  efforts  made  in  this  way,  the  attempt  must  cer- 
tainly be  made  in  another  way.  If  this  counsel  is  of  the 
Lord,  do  not  fight  against  God  ;  but  if  from  elsewhere, 
it  will  perish  by  its  own  rashness.  For  this  reason 
permit  God's  Word  to  be  freely  disseminated  and  to  ger- 
minate, ye  sons  of  men,  who  can  forbid  not  even  a  grain 
from  growing.  You  see  that  this  seed  is  abundantly 
watered  by  the  rain  from  heaven,  neither  can  it  be 
checked  by  any  heat  from  men  so  as  to  become  parched. 
Consider  not  what  you  most  of  all  desire,  but  what  the 
world  requires  in  regard  to  the  Gospel.  Take  this,  such 
as  it  is,  in  good  part,  and  by  your  disposition  show  that 
you  are  childen  of  God. 

Huldreich  Zwingli. 
Most  devoted  to  your  Majesty  and  all  believers. 
Zurich,  July  3,  1530. 


INDEX  TO  INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER: 

SWITZERLAND    AT    THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    SIX- 
TEENTH   CENTURY 


Altstetten,  46 

Amerbach,  Bonifacius  (of  Basel), 
quoted,  21 

Anshelm,  Valerius  (of  Bern), 
Bcrner-Chronik,  (hsg.  Stier- 
lein  u.  Wyss.,  Bern,  1825-33, 
6  vols.)  quoted,  13,  14 

Appenzell,  4 

Austria,  12 

Baden,  7,  10,  27 

Balcus,  "  Descriptio  Helvetise," 
ed.  Bernouilli  in  Quellen  zur 
S ch-weizergeschichte,  v  i. , 
quoted,  14 

Basel,  4,  22,  25,  34-36,  40,  41 

Baslcr  Taschenbuch^  1863, 
"Court  Records  of  Basel," 
alluded  to,  35 

Bern,  4,  5,  33,  36,  40 

"Blue  Laws"  of  Switzerland, 
22-24 

Bonstetten,  "Descriptio-  Hel- 
vetise," in  Quellen  zur  schweiz- 
erischen  Geschichte,  xiii., 
quoted,  45 

Bullinger,  Heinrich,  Reforma- 
tionsgeschichte,  quoted,  28 

Burgundy,  7,  10  ;  wars  of,  4 

Charles  the  Bold,  4 
Christopher,    Bishop    of    Basel, 
quoted,  25-27 


Cities,  38-40  {see  analysis  of 
chapter) 

Clergy,  morals  of,  24-31  [see  an- 
alysis of  chapter) 

Diet,  the,  5-1 1,  27 

Education,  34-38  {see  analysis  of 
chapter) 

Egli,  Emil,  Aktensammliing  zur 
Geschichte  der  Ziircher  Re- 
formation in  den  yahren  /J/^- 
iJSJ,  Zurich,  1879,  quoted, 
24;  "  Zurcherische  Kirchen- 
politik  von  Waldmann  bis 
Zwingli,"  in  Jahrbuch  fiir 
Schiveizer geschichte,  x  x  i .  , 
quoted,  44 

Eidgenossischen  A  b sc hiede , 
I24j-iyg8 ;  Anitliche  Samm- 
lung  der  dlteren  (official  pub- 
lication ;  Bern,  Zurich,  Lu- 
cerne, 1839-99,  8  vols.  4to), 
quoted,  11,  12,  27 

Einsiedeln,  46 

Emperor,  the,  7,  10 

Erasmus,  quoted,  16 ;  referred 
to,  35 

Froben,  35 

Froschauer,  35 

Froude,  James  Anthony,  Life 
and  Letters  of  Erasmus  (N. 
Y.,  1895),  quoted,  16 


485 


486     Index  to  Introductory  Chapter 


Geneva,  4,  40 

Glareanus  [see  Loriti) 

Glarus,  4 

Goldli,  Heinrich,  29-31 

Grisons,  the,  4 

Guicciardini,  Francesco,   Isioria 

d'  Italia     [1492-1534]    (n.    e. 

Milan,  1875,  4  vols.),  quoted, 

20,  21 

Holbein,  36,  38 

Hugo,  Bishop  of  (see  Landen- 
berg) 

Inquisition  never  in  Switzerland, 
why,  33 

Julius  II.,  Pope,  32 

Kussnacht,  46 

Landenberg,  Hugo  von.  Bishop 

of  Constance,  quoted,  27 
Lapide,  Johannes  a,  36 
"  League  of  Eight,"  4 
Leimbach,  46 
Leipzig,  34 
Leo  X.,  Pope,  32 
London,    13 

Loriti,  Henry  (Glareanus), 34-35 
Lorraine,  Duke  of,  7 
Lucerne,  4,  39  ;  lake  of,  4 
Luther,  44 

Macchiavelli,  Niccoli,  //  Prin- 
cipe  ("The  Prince")  (ed.  L. 
Arthur  Burd,  Oxford,  1891), 
quoted,  19,  20 

Mercenary  service,  7-14  {see  an- 
alysis of  chapter) 

Milan,  12  ;  Duchy  of,  7 

Morals  of  the  clergy  (j'tv  Clergy) 

Myconius,  Oswald,  36,  37 

Neuchatel,  4 

Oechsli,  Wilhelm,  Qtwllenbuch 
zttr  Schtveizergeschiclitc  (Zu- 
rich, 1886,  neue  Folge,  1893), 
quoted,  14-19,  24,  27,  31,  35 


Opinions  of  foreigners,  14-21 
(see  analysis  of  chapter) 

Papacy  and  Switzerland,   31-33 

{see  analysis  of  chapter) 
Paris,  34 
Pirckheimer,  Wilibald,  Historia 

belli     Suitensis    (ed.     Zurich, 

1737),  quoted,  iS,  19 
Pope,  the,  7,  12,  29-31 
"  Protectors  of  the  freedom  of 

the  Church,"  title  given  by  the 

Pope  to  the  Swiss,  32 

Remley,  The  Relation  of  State 
and  Church  in  Zurich,  IJIQ- 
i£2j  (Ph.D.  dissertation), 
Leipzig,  1895,  44 

Savoy,  Duke  of,  7 

Schaffhausen,  4 

Schinner,  Bishop  Matthias,  of 
Sitten,  32 

Schwyz,  4 

Simler,  Johann  Jacob,  Samni- 
lung  alter  titid  neuer  Ur- 
kiinden  zur  Beleuchtung  der 
Kirchen- Geschichte,  vornehm- 
lich  des  Sch'u'eizerlaiides  (Zu- 
rich, 1 757-1 763,  2  vols.,  in  6 
parts),  quoted,  27 

Spain,  King  of,  7 

Sumptuary  laws,  22-24  {^^^  an- 
alysis of  chapter) 

Swiss  Confederation,  nucleus 
and  growth,  4,  7,  12 

Switzerland,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  XVI.  century,  chapter  on, 
by  John  Martin  Vincent,  3- 
47  ;  analysis  of  :  political  con- 
dition of,  feeble  unity  between, 
and  absolute  independence  in 
law  and  government  of  the 
separate  states,  3 ;  origi^^  of 
the  Swiss  Confederation,  4  ; 
growth  up  to  sixteenth  cent- 
ury,4;  condition  of  component 
parts,  4 ;  Zurich  and  Bern 
]ire-eminent,  5  ;  jealousy  be- 
tween rural  cantons  and  city 


Index  to  Introductory  Chapter     487 


Switzerland — Continued 

states  and  mutual  recrimina- 
tion, 5  ;  constitution  of  the 
federal  congress,  the  Diet 
and  its  authority,  6  ;  how  fed- 
eral government  was  carried 
on,  6 ;  mercenary  service,  7- 
14  ;  the  increase  of  Swiss  im- 
portance due  to  it,  7  ;  the 
domestic  effect  of  it  and  its 
ramifications,  8  ;  dependence 
on  foreign  subsidies,  and  ef- 
forts to  lessen  it,  g  ;  punish- 
ment of  mercenaries,  10  ;  gen- 
eral acceptance  of  foreign 
pensions  wxirked  against  at- 
tempts to  do  away  with  them, 
II  ;  attractiveness  to  peasants 
of  foreign  military  service,  11; 
reform  set  about  by  Confeder- 
ate law,  12  ;  repeal  of  law,  12; 
severe  losses  in  lives  and  enor- 
mous gains  in  money  in  Ital- 
ian campaign  of  early  years  of 
century,  12  ;  marked  increase 
of  demoralisation  and  of  lux- 
ury and  extravagance,  13  ; 
opinions  of  foreigners,  14-21  ; 
Balcus  quoted,  14-17  ;  ad- 
verse critical  contrast  be- 
tween fidelity  and  obedience 
on  field  and  contempt  of  law 
in  private  life,  14,  15  ;  extrav- 
agance in  alms,  but  scholars 
forced  to  live  in  poverty,  15  ; 
table  manners  bad,  16;  inso- 
lence toward  princely  ambas- 
sadors, 16;  presents  demanded 
from  them,  16  ;  handsome 
women  may  be  kissed  by  any- 
body, 16  ;  generally  low  grade 
people,  17  ;  Johannes  Trithem- 
ius  quoted,  17-18  ;  bad  char- 
acter of  the  Swiss,  17;  bold 
in  war,  mutually  helpful  in 
time  of  need,  generous  toward 
the  poor,  18  ;  Jacob  Wimphel- 
ing  quoted,  i8  ;  Swiss  cruel 
and  unjust,  18  ;  Pirckheimer 
quoted  on  Swiss  military  prow- 


ess, 18,  19;  Macchiavelli 
quoted  on  the  same,  19,  20 ; 
Guicciardini  quoted  on  the 
same,  20,  21  ;  and  on  evils  of 
the  mercenary  service,  21  ; 
sumptuary  laios,  22-24  ;  gam- 
bling, betting,  late  hours,  pro- 
fane swearing  and  cursing, 
wedding  feasts  of  more  than  a 
day  or  above  a  certain  cost  kll 
forbidden,  regulations  as  to 
cost  of  presents  to  wedding 
guests  or  to  those  of  christen- 
ing parties  and  as  to  dress,  22- 
24  ;  dancing  forbidden,  24 ; 
morals  of  the  clergy,  24-31  ; 
not  so  bad  as  often  depicted, 
25 ;  episcopal  action  against 
priestly  immorality  and  de- 
scription of  grossly  bad  ac- 
tions, 25,  26  ;  clerical  extrav- 
agance   and    superstition,    26, 

27  ;  drinking,  gambling,  and 
concubinage,  27  ;  disposal  of 
property  of  a  "  witch"  by  the 
Diet,  27  ;  dense  ignorance  of 
the  clergy  and  their  evil  lives, 

28  ;  simony  and  traffic  in 
church  property  and  prefer- 
ments, 2g  ;  defence  by  such  a 
trafficker,  2g,  30 ;  the  papal 
part  in  the  transactions,  29- 
31;  Switzerland  and  the  Pa- 
pacy, 31-33  ;  high  papal  es- 
teem at  beginning  of  century 
owing  to  valour  of  Swiss  mer- 
cenary troops,  32  ;  misconcep- 
tion of  the  reason  of  their  em- 
ployment, but  participation  in 
war  of  purely  papal  aggres- 
sion, papal  payment,  presents, 
and  title  to  the  troops,  32  ; 
impression  made  upon  the 
Swiss  unfavourable  to  the  Pa- 
pacy, 32  ;  independent  action 
toward  subsequent  papal  re- 
(juests  for  mercenaries,  32,  33  ; 
insubordination  to  ecclesiasti- 
cal control,  33  ;  why  the  In- 
quisition never  was  set  up  in 


4S8     Index  to  Introductory  Chapter 


Switzerland — Continued 

Switzerland,  33  ;  education, 
34— 38  ;  humanism  in  Switzer- 
land, 34-36  ;  the  University  of 
Basel,  34  ;  Basel's  prominence 
in  printing,  35  ;  Zurich's  much 
less  so,  35  ;  high  schools  few, 
36  ;  primary  schools  defective, 
public  schools  non-existent, 
36  ;  pay  of  teachers,  36  ;  how 
private  teachers  supported 
themselves,  36,  37  ;  fine  arts 
and  household  decoration,  38; 
the  cities,  38-40 ;  how  walls 
affected  their  political,  social, 
and  intellectual  life,  38-40 ; 
Zurich,  40-47  ;  how  its  loca- 
tion led  to  its  leadership,  40  ; 
effect  of  the  presence  of  for- 
eign ambassadors,  41 ;  a  mu- 
nicipal republic,  41  ;  classes 
of    citizens  and    their    guilds, 

41,  42  ;  city  government,  42  ; 
constitution  of  the  Small 
Council,  42,  and  of  the  Great, 

42,  43  ;  functions,  43,  44 ; 
treatment  of  the  clergy,  44  ; 
different  attitude  towards  the 
people  of  religious  leaders  in 
Germany  and  Switzerland,  45; 
population  of  Zurich,  45  ; 
ecclesiastical  divisions,  45  ; 
monks,  clergy,  and  their 
wealth,  46  ;  church  buildings, 
46  ;  general  conditions  which 
compelled  and  controlled  the 


Reformation    in    Switzerland, 

47 
Switzerland,    political  condition 
of,  from  origin,  3-6  (see  analy- 
sis of  chapter) 

Trithemius,  Johannes,  AnnaU 
itim  Hirsaugietisi^im  (ed.  St. 
Gall,  1690),  quoted,  17,  18 

Turks,  32 

Unterwalden   4 

Uri,  4,  5 

Utinger,  Canon,  37 

Venice,  Republic  of,  7 

Vienna,  34 

Vincent,  J.  M.,  "European 
Blue  Laws,"  in  Report  of  Am- 
erican Historical  Association 
(Washington,  1897),  quoted,  24 

Waldmann,  Hans,  24 
Wimpheling,  Jacob,  quoted,  18 
Wittenbach,  Thomas,  34 
Wolflin,  Heinrich  (Lupulus),  36 
Wunderli,  G.  H.,  Hans  Wald- 
mann und  seine  Zeit  (Zurich, 
1889),  quoted,  44-46 

Zug,  4 

Zurich,  4,  5,  23,  24,   33,  35-37, 
40-47  {see  analysis  of  chapter) 
Zurichberg,  46 
Zurzach,  30 
Zwingli,  31,  34,  37,  40-44   47 


MULHAUSE, 


[FnciBURa 


MAP  OF  SWITZERLAND. 


INDEX 

This  index  covers  all  the  book  except  the  Introductory  Chapter, 
which  is  separately  indexed. 

In  this  index  is  biographical  and  geographical  information  which 
could  not  be  conveniently  given  in  the  notes.  Thus  either  in  the 
body  of  the  book  or  in  the  index  every  place  in  Switzerland  of  any 
importance  in  connection  with  the  life  of  Zwingli  has  been  so  located 
that  anyone  can  easily  find  it,  and  at  least  the  principal  dates  of  all 
important  characters  mentioned  in  the  same  connection  will  be 
found. 


Aargau,  350 

Abtzell,  see  Appenzell 

Adda,  342 

Adelmann,  Bernardus  and  Con- 
radus,  139 

Adrian  VI.,  Pope,  born  in 
Utrecht,  1459  ;  studied  at  Lou- 
vain,  and  there  became  pro- 
fessor of  theology ;  tutor  to 
Charles  V.,  1507  ;  bishop  of 
Tortosa,  Spain,  and  cardinal, 
15 16,  and  regent  of  Spain, 
1520  ;  pope,  January  9,  1522  ; 
died  in  Rome,  September  14, 
1523,  174,  175.  177.  181 

"  Advice  of  one  who  desires  with 
his  whole  heart  that  due  con- 
sideration be  paid  both  to  the 
dignity  of  the  Pope  and  to  the 
peaceful  development  of  the 
Christian  religion,"  155 

iEschines,  79 

Agen,  seventy-three  miles  soutli- 
east  of  Bordeaux,  p'rancc,  76 


Agricola  (Castenpauer)  Stephen, 
reformer,  born  in  Augsburg, 
died  in  Eisleben  in  1547,  314 

Albert,  Count  of  Mansfeld,  see 
Mansfeld 

Albis,  hill,  355 

Alexander,  79 

Alexander  VI.  (Rodrigo  Lanzol) 
born  in  Valencia,  Pope  1492— 
1503.  85 

Ambrose,  St.,  107,  121,  135,476 

Ammann,  James,  142 

Ammann,  John  James,  66 

Anabaptists,  see  Baptists 

"Angel  Dedication"  at  Ein- 
siedeln,   87,  100-102,  104,  174 

Anhalt,    Wolfgang,    Prince    of, 

299-  337 
Anselm,  St.,  385 
Anselm,  Thomas,  printer,  149 
Anthropology,  see  Man,  doctrine 

of,  also  under  Luther 
Antiblon,  227-230 
Anwyl,  Fritz  von,  185 
"  Apology,"  201 
Appenzell,  250,  251,  294 


489 


JO     '^S* 


^V 


^8n 


INDEX 

This  index  covers  all  the  book  except  the  Introductory  Chapter, 
which  is  separately  indexed. 

In  this  index  is  biographical  and  geographical  information  which 
could  not  be  conveniently  given  in  the  notes.  Thus  either  in  the 
body  of  the  book  or  in  the  index  every  place  in  Switzerland  of  any 
importance  in  connection  with  the  life  of  Zwingli  has  been  so  located 
that  anyone  can  easily  find  it,  and  at  least  the  principal  dates  of  all 
important  characters  mentioned  in  the  same  connection  will  be 
found. 


Aargau,  350 

Abtzell,  st-e  Appenzell 

Adda,  342 

Adelmann,  Bernardus  and  Con- 
radus,  139 

Adrian  VI.,  Pope,  born,  in 
Utrecht,  1459  I  studied  at  Lou- 
vain,  and  there  became  pro- 
fessor of  theology ;  tutor  to 
Charles  V.,  1507  ;  bishop  of 
Tortosa,  Spain,  and  cardinal, 
1516,  and  regent  of  Spain, 
1520  ;  pope,  January  9,  1522  ; 
died  in  Rome,  September  14, 
1523,  174,  175,  177,  181 

"  Advice  of  one  who  desires  with 
his  whole  heart  that  due  con- 
sideration be  paid  both  to  the 
dignity  of  the  Pope  and  to  the 
peaceful  development  of  the 
Christian  religion,"  155 

^schines,  79 

Agen,  seventy-three  miles  south- 
east of  Bordeaux,  France,  76 


Agricola  (Castenpauer)  Stephen, 
reformer,  born  in  Augsburg, 
died  in  Eisleben  in  1547,  314 

Albert,  Count  of  Mansfeld,  see 
Mansfeld 

Albis,  hill,  355 

Alexander,   79 

Alexander  VI.  (Rodrigo  Lanzol) 
born  in  Valencia,  Pope  1492— 
1503.  85 

Ambrose,  St.,  107,  121,  135,476 

Ammann,  James,  142 

Ammann,  John  James,  66 

Anabaptists,  see  Baptists 

"Angel  Dedication"  at  Ein- 
siedeln,   87,  100-102,  104,  174 

Anhalt,    Wolfgang,    Prince    of, 

299.  337 
Anselm,  St.,  385 
Anselm,  Thomas,  printer,  149 
Anthropology,  see  Man,  doctrine 

of,  also  under  Luther 
Antiblon,  227-230 
Anwyl,  Fritz  von,  185 
"  Apology,"  201 
Appenzell,  250,  251,  294 


489 


490 


Index 


Aquinas,  Thomas,  289,  36S,  382 

Archeteles,  172  ;  original  edition 
full  of  printing  errors,  278 

ArcJiiv  fur  die  sch7sjeizerische 
J\eforfnatioftsgesckichie,  Frei- 
burg im  Br.,  1875,  76,  295 

Argentyne,  Richard,  212 

Aristophanes,  135 

Aristotle,  135 

Arius,  279 

Arnold,  Matthew,  86 

Atonement,  doctrine  of,  385 

Augsburg,    128,    139,    140,    212, 

259-  314 
Augsburg,  Diet  of,  how  attended, 
329-331  ;    Zwingli's    absence, 
329-330  ;    mutual  mistrust  be- 
tween Zwinglians  and  Luther- 
ans,  330-332  ;   Lutherans  and 
Zwingli    present    to    Emperor 
Confessions    of    Faith,     331  ; 
Diet  dissolved,    332  ;    its  ulti- 
matum to  the  Protestants,  336, 
340 
Augustine,  St.,  107,  368,  376,  476 
Augustinian  monks,  146,  225 
Austria,  Ferdinand,  Grand  Duke 

of,  300,  323,  337,  341 
Avignon,  170 


B 


Baden  in  Germany,  278 

Baden,  in  Switzerland,  64,  114, 
165,  1S8,  202,  212,  237  ;  dis- 
putation at ;  struggle  over  the 
place  ;  the  disputants  ;  results  ; 
acts   of,    270-277,    309,    327, 

341 

Baptism  discussed  by  Zwingli, 
393  ;  does  not  convey  grace, 
393  ;  Christian  baptism  not 
different  in  purpose  from  Jo- 
hannean, 393,  394 :  infant  bap- 
tism defended,  394,  395 

"  Baptism,  Re-Baptism,  and  In- 
fant Baptism,"  248,  256-25S 

Baptists,  original  members  of  the 
party  in  Zurich,  240 ;  their 
radical   conduct,    240 ;     their 


meetings,  240  :  valuable  acces- 
sions, 241  ;  their  number,  241; 
first  publicly  heard  in  the  Sec- 
ond Disputation,  241  ;  de- 
mands, 241  ;  Zwingli's  reply 
to,  242  ;  secret  conferences 
with,  242 ;  influenced  by 
Thomas  Miinzer  and  Andrew 
Carlstadt  to  belief  that  infant 
baptism  was  unscriptural,  242  ; 
public  dispute  with,  over  their 
position  and  consequent  prac- 
tice, 243  ;  punished  for  refus- 
ing to  have  infants  baptised, 
243  ;  their  private  meetings 
forbidden  and  foreign  mem- 
bers banished,  244 ;  met  se- 
cretly at  Zollicon,  245  ;  insti- 
tuted baptism  of  adults  who  it 
was  claimed  by  their  opponents 
had  been  previously  baptised, 
245  ;  the  first  adult  baptism 
was  by  pouring,  245  ;  descrip- 
tion of  it,  245,  246 ;  weekly 
debates  with,  246 ;  punish- 
ment of  their  leaders,  247  ;  list 
of  Zwingli's  writings  against, 
248  ;  allusions  to,  especially  to 
Balthasar  Hubmaier,  their 
principal  theologian,  in  Zwin- 
gli's correspondence,  248-256; 
Appenzell  a  centre  for  the 
Baptist  propaganda,  251  ;  pun- 
ishment of  the  Baptist  leaders, 
252  ;  Zwingli's  book  in  Ger- 
man "  On  Baptism,"  analysed, 
257,  258  ;  that  in  Latin,  "  Re- 
futation of  the  tricks  of  the 
Catabaptists,"  258  ;  origin  of 
the  epithet,  258  ;  no  discussion 
in  either  or  any  of  the  Zwingli 
treatises  of  the  mode  of  bap- 
tism, 259  ;  intercantonal  dis- 
putation upon  Baptists,  259  ; 
official  statement  of  their  al- 
leged errors  and  crimes,  260  ; 
punishment,  260,  261  ;  Zwing- 
li's "Refutation"  analysed, 
261-264;  his  reply  to 
Schwenckfeld's    questions   on 


Index 


49 1 


Baptists  fConthtued) 

baptism,  264  ;  fate  of  the  Bap- 
tist party  in  Zurich,  265  ;  min- 
isters punished  for  accepting 
their  views,  294 

Basel,  55,  57-59.  7S,  81,  85,  88, 
92,  96,  107,  108,  121,  124, 
129,  131,  139-142,  149,  156, 
171.  179.  1S5,  203,  206,  210- 
212,  214,  215,  226,  228,  258, 
269,  270,  272,  274,  277,  278, 
280,  283,  297,  301-305,  308- 
314,  323.  330,  334.  338,  349. 
360,  361 

Basel,  Klein,  55 

Basel,  Klein,  St.  Theodore's 
Church  in,  55 

Basel,   St.   Martin's  Church  in, 

57 
Bath  presents,  212 
Baur,    August,    ZiuingUs    Theo- 

%«V,  Halle,  1885-1889,2  vols., 

311 

Beatrice  of  Marckelssheim,  351 

Beatus  Rhenanus,  see  Rhenanus 

Benedictine  monks,  50,  60,  61 

Bern,  56,  64,  93,  165,  166,  174, 
175,  203,  259,  270,  272,  274, 
277,  278,  280,  2S1,  2S4,  285, 
296,  323,  32S-330,  345,  361 

Bern,  Disputation  of  (1528),  to 
all,  members,  leaders,  280- 
281;  "Acts"  analysed,  281- 
2S4  ;  Church  of  the  Barefoot 
Monks  the  scene  of  the  Dispu- 
tation, 283  ;  printing  of  al- 
luded to,  286 

Bern,  Dominican  monastery,  56 

Berus,  Ludovicus,  142 

Biberach,  337 

Bible,  see  "  Perspicuity" 

Bibliander,  Theodore,  born  at 
Bischofzell,  Thurgau,  1507 ; 
professor  of  theology  in  Zurich 
1 531-1560 ;  died  of  the  plague 
there,  November  26,  1564,  258 

Biel,  59,  60,  323 

Biel,  Gabriel,  107,  156 

Bienne,  see  Biel 

Blansch,  Martin,  185 


Blarer,  Anna,  360 
Blarer,  Thomas,  once  burgomas- 
ter of  Constance,  216,  360 
Blaurock,  Georg,  245,  247,  262, 

263 
Boeschenstein,  Andreas,  135 
Bombasius,  Paul,  no,  112 
Bonstetten,  Albrecht  von,  102 
Brabant,  80,  81 
Brandenburg,  the  Margrave  of, 

299 
Bremen,  316,  337 
Bremgarten,  124,  237,  347,  34S 
Brendlin,  Nicholas,  162,  236 
Brenz,    Johann,   born    at    Weil, 
Svvabia,  June  24,  1499  ;  edu- 
cated at   Heidelberg,    became 
priest  at  Swabian  Hall,  1522  ; 
introduced    the    Reformation 
there,    1524;    became   provost 
at  Stuttgart,  1552  ;  died  there 
September  11,  1570,  313,  314, 

317 

Bretini,   M.,  112 

Breviary  simplified,  157 

Briefer,  Nicholas,  283 

Brotli,  245 

Bruenig  Pass,  351 

Brugg,  350 

Brunfels,  Otho,  215 

Brunner.  Rudolf,  73,  248 

Brunswick  -  Luneburg,  Philip, 
Ernest,  and  Francis,  Dukes 
of,  299,  337 

Bubikon,  154 

Bucer,  see  Butzer 

Buenzli,  Gregory,  55,  94,  96 

BuUing'er,  Anna,  wife  of  Ulrich 
Zwingli,  Jr.,  360 

BuUinger,  Heinrich,  father  of 
Zwingli's  successor,  124 

Bullinger,  Heinrich,  born  at 
Bremgarten,  near  Zurich,  July 
18,  1504;  studied  at  Cologne, 
embraced  the  Reformation, 
1522  ;  became  intimate  with 
Zwingli  while  teaching  at  Cap- 
pel  ;  pastor  at  Bremgarten, 
1529 ;  succeeded  Zwingli, 
1531  ;  very  friendly  with  the 


492 


Index 


BuUinger,  Heinrich  (Continued) 
Marian  exiles  (1553-58) ;  died 
at  Zurich,  September  17,  1575, 

345,  360 

Bullinger,  Heinrich,  Reforma- 
tionsgeschichte,  Frauenfeld, 
1838-1840,  3  vols.,  85,  no, 
119,  121,  123,  124,  127,  128, 
131,  135-137,  147,  150,  164, 
165,  172,  174,  193,  195,  196, 
200,  203-205,  224,  225,  230, 
239,  271,  285,  294,  303-305, 
310,  311,  313,  324,  342,  345, 

346.  348,  352,  357,  358,  360 
Burgundy,  go 

Burial  practices,  291 

Butzer  (Bucer),  Martin,  born  at 
Schlettstadt,  Lower  Elsass, 
1491  ;  entered  the  Dominican 
order,  but  embraced  the  Ref- 
ormation, 1518  ;  left  the  order, 
1521  ;  became  pastor  at  Strass- 
burg,  1524  ;  at  first  a  Zwing- 
lian,  after  1532  he  leaned  to 
Lutheranism ;  compelled  to 
leave  Strassburg,  went  to  Eng- 
land, and  became  regius  pro- 
fessor of  divinity  at  Cambridge, 
where  he  died,  February  28, 
1551,  145,  235,  248,  313,  314, 
318,  324,  329-331,  333-335. 
338,  339,  342,  348,  350 


Cajetan,  Cardinal,  original  name 
Jacob  de  Vie,  took  name  of 
Thomas  ;  born  at  Gaeta,  forty 
miles  north-west  of  Naples 
(hence  his  name  Gaetano  or 
Cajetan)  July  25,  1470  ;  made 
Dominican  monk,  i486  ;  car- 
dinal, 1517;  met  Luther  at 
Augsburg,  1518;  died  in  Rome, 
August  9,  1534,  140 

Calvin,  John,  born  at  Noyon,  Pi- 
cardy,  July  10,  1509  ;  became 
a  Protestant,  published  his 
Institutes,  1536,  and  the  same 
year  went  to  Geneva,  where  he 


acted  the  reformer :  was  ex- 
pelled, 153S  ;  recalled,  1541, 
and  reformed  the  city  ;  died 
there.  May  27,  1564,  223,  362 

Camerarius,  Joachim,  born  at 
Bamberg,  April  12,  1500 ;  be- 
came professor  in  Leipzig, 
1 541  ;  died  there  April  17, 
1574,  300 

Camertes,  John,  62 

"  Canon  (The)  of  the  Mass,"  201 

Capito,  Wolfgang  Fabricius,  born 
at  Hagenau,  Elsass,  1478  ; 
went  over  to  the  Reformation 
in  Strassburg,  1524;  was  But- 
zer's  coadjutor  there  till  his 
death,  November  2,  1541,  60, 
129,  235,  242,  249,  309,  326, 
329.  331.  333,  335,  338,  347, 
350 

Capnio,  see  Reuchlin 

Cappel,  102,  205,  232,  269,  296, 
301,  302,  307,  340,  353,  354, 
358,  359 

Cappel  War,  First,  between  Zu- 
rich and  the  Forest  Cantons, 
originated  in  the  determin- 
ation of  the  latter  to  sup- 
press the  Reformation,  301  ; 
ended  before  any  blood  was 
shed,  302  ;  Zwingli's  plan  for 
a  treaty  of  peace,  303 ;  the 
treaty  signed  secured  among 
other  things  free  course  for 
the  Gospel,  304,  305  ;  con- 
sidered humiliating  by  the  five 
Forest  Cantons,  and  therefore 
they  bided  their  time  to  break 
it,  306  ;  war  cost  paid  by  the 
five  Forest  Cantons,  340 

Cappel  War,  Second,  followed 
inevitably  upon  the  First,  341; 
the  grievances  of  the  Forest 
Cantons,  341  ;  embargo  was 
adopted  by  Zurich  and  Bern  to 
force  the  Forest  Cantons  to  al- 
low free  course  to  evangelical 
preaching  as  the  treaty  stipu- 
lated, 345  ;  Zwingli  opposed 
to    the    embargo,    346 ;    out- 


Index 


493 


Cappel  War,  Second  (Continued) 
siders  worked  for  peace,  346, 
347  ;  inside  efforts  to  the  same 
end,  347,348  ;  war  manifestly 
approaching,  349 ;  portents, 
350-352  ;  Zurich  adopts  plan 
of  campaign,  352  ;  war  breaks 
out,  352  :  Zurich  forces  meet 
the  foe,  353,  354;  battle  joined, 
354.  355  ;  defeat  for  the  Zu- 
richers,  356 ;  Zwingli  slain, 
356-358  ;  remarkable  Zurich 
loss  of  prominent  men,  358  ; 
end  of  the  campaign,  359  ; 
second  treaty  of  Cappel,  359 

Carlsruhe,  149 

Carlstadt,  Andreas  Rudolf  Bo- 
denstein,  born  at  Carlstadt, 
Franconia,  1480  (?) ;  studied 
in  Italy,  settled  at  Witten- 
berg, 1504  ;  became  professor 
of  theology  there,  1508  ;  went 
over  to  the  Reformation,  but 
for  his  eccentricities  expelled, 
1522  ;  found  asylum  in  Switz- 
erland, became  professor  of 
theology  in  Basel,  1534  ;  there 
died,  1541,  140,  242,  307,  316, 
330 

Carolinum,  The,  Zurich's  Great 
Minster  School,  269 

Carthusian  Monks,  196 

Casale,  93 

Cassel,  307 

Catabaptists,  see  Baptists 

Catherine  of  Aragon,  349 ;  see 
also  Henry  VIII. 

Cato's  Morals^  55 

Celtes,  Conrad,  57 

Censorship  of  Zurich  clergy,  286 

Ceremonials,  ecclesiastical,  tol- 
erated, 478 

Charles  the  Bold,  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, 90 

Charles  V.,  127,  128,  32S,  330. 
See  also  under  The  Emperor 

Christ,  work  of,  discussed,  384  ji/<7. 

Christen,  E.,  Zwingli  avant  la 
r^forme  de  Zurich^  Geneva, 
1899,  89,  114 


Christian,     Abbot  of    Old     St. 

John's,  60,  131,  140 
Christian  Burgher  Rights,  298  ; 
original  members  of  the  alli- 
ance, 323  ;  Zwingli's  plans  to 
extend  the  alliance,  323-325  ; 
how  frustrated  in  certain  states 
and  cities,  325,  328  ;  the  Land- 
grave of  Hesse  excluded  by 
Bern's  opposition,  329,  332  ; 
Strassburg  welcomed,  329  ; 
the  Landgrave  renews  appli- 
cation for  admittance,  334 ; 
increasing  perils  make  Zwingli 
more  urgent  to  extend  the  al- 
liance, 340,  345 
Christianity  defined,  384 
Christoffel,    R.,    121,    173,    197, 

198,  248,  268,  305,  311 
Christology,  396-398 
Chrysoloras,  Emanuel,  82 
Chrysostom,  St.,  121,  136 
Chur,  203,  210,  259,  326,  347 
Church,   doctrine  of,   387,  463- 
466  ;      powers     of     the     local 
church,   388  ;    which  is  repre- 
sented   in    the    board    of    city 
magistrates,   may  lay  claim  to 
infallibility,  388 
Church  in  Zurich,  services,  290, 
2gi  ;      adornments     removed, 
292  ;  polity,  297 
Churfirsten,  mountain  range,  53, 

.54 

Cicero's  Letters,    63 

Clauser,  Cunhart,  67 

Clergy  in  Zurich,  dress  of,  2go, 
291 

Clergy,  support  of,  293 

"  Clerical  "  marriages,  167 

Cochlaus  (Johann  Dobeneck), 
born  at  Wendelstein,  near  Nur- 
emberg, 1479  ;  strong  Roman 
Catholic ;  died  in  Breslau, 
1552,  289 

Cochran,  J.,  305 

Coire,  see  Chur 

Collin,  Rudolf,  310,  313,  315, 
326 

Cologne,  81,  92,  147,  188 


494 


Index 


Comander,  344 

' '  Commentary  on  True  and  False 
Religion,"  220,  230,  269,  369, 
370 ;  analysis  of,  370  sqq,  ; 
begins  with  definition  of  relig- 
ion, makes  theology  proper  the 
starting-point,  370  ;  first  con- 
siders God's  knowability,  370, 
371  ;  this  knowledge  obtained 
from  nature,  371;  but  believers 
aided  by  the  Spirit,  full  know- 
ledge from  the  Bible,  371  ;  dis- 
cussion biblical,  372  ;  mean- 
ing of  "  essence,"  372  ;  attri- 
butes of  God,  372  ;  goodness 
of  God  active,  373,  374  ;  be- 
nevolence and  mercy  of  God, 
375  ;  doctrine  of  man,  376, 
377  ;  doctrine  of  sin,  377,  378  ; 
religion  defined,  383  ;  Christ- 
ianity defined,  384;  the  Gospel 
defined,  386  ;  Law,  keys,  and 
the  Church,  387  sqq.;  local 
church  represented  in  the  city 
board  of  magistrates,  is  in  a 
sense  infallible,  388  ;  did  not 
deny  doctrines  he  did  not  dis- 
cuss, as  Luther  supposed,  389  ; 
the  Sacraments  discussed,  389- 
395  ;  three  views  rejected,  390; 
his  own  view  stated,  390-392  ; 
faith  discussed,  392,  393 ; 
baptism  discussed,  393-395  ; 
Lord's  Supper  discussed,  395  ; 
its  nature  is  that  of  a  symbol, 

395 

Como,  Lake,  342 

Complutensian  Polyglot  used  by 
Eck  in  Baden,  276 

Compostella,  74 

Confession  of  Faith  (1530),  331, 
332,  369,  378  ;  text  of,  452- 
484  ;  topics  :  Of  the  Unity  and 
Trinity  of  God,  453;  Of  Christ 
the  Son  of  God  and  Man,  454- 
481  ;  address  to  the  Emperor, 
Princes,  and  Nobles,  defending 
himself  and  urging  them  to  al- 
low Gospel  preaching,  481- 
484  ;   the  Church  doctrine  of 


the  Duality  affirmed,  454-456; 
of  the  Incarnation,  457,  458  ; 
Atonement,  458  ;  sin  intro- 
duced by  Adam,  458-461  ;  all 
who  die  in  infancy,  Christian 
or  heathen,  saved,  461,  462 

Conrad,  Bishop  of  Constance, 
100 

Conrad  IIL,  Abbot  of  Einsie- 
deln,  102 

Conradson,  128 

Constance,  68,  73,  82,  99,  100, 
no.  III,  125,  143,  148,  152, 
161,  162,  165,  168,  171,  176, 
179,  187,  1S9,  192,  195,  196, 
203,  210,  216,  226,  232,  256, 
259,  268,  271,  275,  2S0,  294, 
299.  332,  337,  338-  360 

Constance,  Bishop  of,  see  Hohen- 
landenberg 

Constance,  Bishop,  designate  of, 
332 

Constantinople,  82 

Copp,  Dr.  Johannes,  292 

Cousard,  John,  339 

Creighton,  Mandell,  History  of 
the  Papacy,  vol.  vi.,  128 

"Crown  of  the  Eucharist,"  230 

Cruciger,  Caspar,  born  at  Leip- 
zig, January  i,  1504  ;  professor 
at  Wittenberg,  Luther's  helper 
in  Bible  translations,  also  an 
expert  shorthand  writer  ;  died 
there,  November  16,  1548,  314 

Curio,  Valentine,  214 

Cyprian,  St.,  107 


D'Angerant,  327 

Daugertin,  328,  345 

Death  in  Adam  defined,  376,  377 

Demosthenes,  135 

Diessenhofen,  294,  295 

Dingnauer,  Johann,  93 

Disputation,  the  First,  the  Sixty- 
seven  Articles  of,  180,  181  ; 
call  to,  183-185  ;  disputants 
and  audience,  185,  1S6  ;  bur- 
gomaster's address,  186,  1S7  ; 


Index 


495 


Disputation,     the    First     (Con- 
tinued) 
debate,   187-192  ;    deliverance 
of  the  City  Council,  190,  191  ; 
significance  of  the  victory,  194, 

Disputation,  the  Second,  203  j(/i/./ 
occasion,  203  ;  invited  guests, 
203,  204  ;  proceedings,  204, 
205  ;  finding  of  the  Council, 
206,  207  ;  effects,  208,  209 

Divorce,  see  Marriage 

Dominican  monks,  172,  225 

Dongo,  342 

Dresden,  227 

Drowning,  the  punishment  of 
Baptist  leaders,  247,  252 

Duns  Scotus,  107,  141,  289 


E 


Eck,  Johannes,  born  at  Eck, 
Swabia,  November  13,  i486  ; 
studied  at  Heidelberg,  Tu- 
bingen, and  Freiburg,  became 
professor  of  theology  at  Ingol- 
stadt,  1510  ;  vigorously  and 
learnedly  opposed  the  Reform- 
ation, frequently  as  a  public 
disputant,  died  at  Ingolstadt, 
Bavaria,    February    10,    1543, 

139,  140,  143,  145,  185.  271, 
273,  274,  276,  280,  320,  332 

Edlibach,  Ceroid,  Chronik,  ed. 
Usteri,  Zurich,  1847,  292 

"  Education,     Christian,"    212, 

399    . 

Education  theories  of  Zwingli, 
399-401 

Effingen,  Elizabeth,  284 

Egli,  Emil,  Actensammlung,  Zu- 
rich, 1879,  54,  57,  58,  76,  112, 
157,  160,  164,  175,  176,  196, 
200,  224,  239,  244,  267,  286, 
289,  291,  294 

Egli,  Emil,  Analecta  Reforma- 
toria,  i.,  Zurich,  1899,  76,  330 

Egli,  Emil,  Die  Schlacht  von 
Cappel,  Zurich,  1879,  35°.  35 S 

Einsiedeln,  65,  91,  94-96,  98- 
100,    102,    104-106,    loS-iio, 


113-115,  I19-121,  135,  149, 
159,  165,  174,  217,  224 

Eisenach,  171 

Eisleben,  birthplace  of  Luther, 

5°. 
Election,  discussed,  383  ;  rather 

than  faith  the  justifying  prin- 
ciple, 382 

Elmer,  66 

Elsass,  215,  349 

Embrach,   206 

Emerton,  Ephraim,  Erasmus, 
New  York,  1899,  81,  130 

Emperor,  The,  324,  326,  329, 
331-333.  340,  341,  343;  see 
also  under  Charles  V. 

Emser,  Jerome,  born  at  Ulm, 
1477  ;  professor  in  Erfurt ; 
since  15 10  lived  in  Dresden  ; 
earnest  opponent  of  the  Re- 
formation ;  died  in  Dresden, 
November  8, 1527,  227,  230 

Engelhard,  Dr.  Heinrich,  151, 
152,  202,  206,243,253,255,335 

English  Sweat,  319 

Ennenda,  68 

Ennius,   150 

Epichiresis,  230,  279 

Eppendorf,  Henry,  219 

Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  born 
there,  1467  ;  educated  at  the 
monastery  of  Steyn,  Holland  ; 
began  in  Paris  his  career  as 
humanist  which  was  to  result 
in  making  him  the  literary 
king  of  papal  Europe,  1492  ; 
led  a  wandering  life  the  rest 
of  his  days,  being  in  England, 
France,  Italy,  Germany,  and 
finally  in  Switzerland,  but 
one  of  incessant  and  most  use- 
ful literary  activity  ;  died  in 
Basel,  1536,  78-81,  86,  87,93, 
121,  135,  145,  159,  197,  213- 
217,  219-221,  269  ;  on  Free 
Will,  368 

Erichson,  A.,  Zunnglfs  Tod  und 
dessen  Beurtheilung  durch 
Zfj/o-^w^jjt'w,  Strassburg,  1883, 
361 


496 


Index 


Ernest,  Duke  of  Brunswick- 
Luneburg,  see  Brunswick- 
Luneburg 

Escher,  Hans,  232 

Escher,  Hermann,  Die  Glau- 
bensparteien,  Frauenfeld,  1882, 
325 

Esslingen,  331 

Ethics,  developed  little  by 
Zwingli,  399 

Etzel,  mountain,  99 

Eucharist,  see  Lord's  Supper 

"  Exhortation,  An  earnest,  ad- 
dressed to  the  confederates  not 
to  suffer  themselves  to  come 
into  dishonour  through  the 
wiles  of  their  foes,"  164 

"  Explanation  of  the  Christian 
Faith,"  369,  370,  385-3S7 

"  Exposition  and  Proof  of  the 
Conclusions  or  Articles,"  98, 
197,  369 


Faber  Johannes  (properly  Hei- 
gerlin),  born  at  Leutkirch,  near 
Lake  Constance,  1478  ;  studied 
at  Tubingen  and  Freiburg ; 
became  vicar-general  of  Con- 
stance, 1516  ;  vigorously  and 
skilfully  opposed  the  Reform- 
ation, wrote  A/alletts  in  hce- 
resim  Liitheranam,  1524, 
whence  came  his  epithet, 
"  Hammer  of  the  Heretics," 
became  bishop  of  Vienna, 
1530 ;  died  near  there.  May 
21,  1541,  106,  125,  127,  143, 
179,  185,  187-189,  191,  193, 
273,  274,  289 

Fabri,  see  Faber 

Fabricius,  161 

Faith,  382,  391,  392,  468 

Falconibus,  William  a,  142,  148 

Talk,  G.  von,  112 

Talk,  Peter,  93 

Farer,  Blasius,  61,  67 

Fasting,  160,  161  ;  sermon  on, 
404-451;     analysis:     fasting. 


first  unobserved  by  some  of 
Zwingli's  hearers,  405;  the  true 
Scripture  doctrine  set  forth, 
406-414  ;  objections  as  to  time 
of,  414-422  ;  Scripture  proof 
that  everyone  is  at  liberty  to 
fast  when  he  pleases,  415-419  ; 
objection  that  people  will  never 
fast  if  allowed  meat  in  Lent, 
421-423  ;  Concerning  the  com- 
7nandment  of  men,  423-425  ; 
antiquity  of  obligatory  fasting 
denied,  423-425  ;  privilege  of 
omitting  fasting  purchasable, 
424  ;  Of  offettce  or  vexation, 
biblical  exegesis  on,  425-435  ; 
Of  avoiding  vexation,  biblical 
exposition  of  cases,  435-442  ; 
Of  being  off  elided  at  innocent 
customs,  442-448 ;  Whether 
anyone  has  power  to  forbid 
foods,  448-451 

Fees  for  ecclesiastical  services 
abolished,  200 

Ferdinand,  Grand  Duke  of  Aus- 
tria, see  Austria 

Finsler,  Georg,  155,  193 

Fischingen,  60,  94,  96 

Fislisbach,  188,  192 

Five  Forest  Cantons  (Uri, 
Schwyz,  Unterwalden,  Lu- 
zern,  and  Zug)  oppose  the 
Reformation  and  join  with  the 
Reformed  Cantons  in  two 
wars,  272,  273,  296,  300,  302, 
303,  305.  306,  324,  32S,  340, 
341,  343-345.  347-349.  352, 
353.  357 

Flodden  Field,  358 

Florence,  84,  iii 

Forest  Cantons,  see  Five  Forest 
Cantons 

France,  269,  324-326 

Francis,  Duke  of  Brunswick- 
Luneburg,  see  Brunswick- 
Luneburg 

Francis  I.,  King  of  France,  92, 
230,  269,  324,  326,  328,  345- 
347, 

Franciscan  monks,  146,  170,  225 


Index 


497 


Frankfort,  277,  288,  307 

Frauciifeld,  196,  294,  325 

Freiburg  (in  Switzerland),  93, 
142,  327 

Freiburg  im  I5r.,  295 

Frciunbach,  96 

Fridolin,  63 

Friedewald,  307 

"  Friendly  defence  and  depreca- 
tion of  the  sermon  of  the  ex- 
cellent  Martin  Luther 
preached  in  Wittenberg 
against  the  Fanatics,  and  to 
defend  the  reality  of  the  Body 
and  Blood  in  the  Sacrament," 
278 

"  Friendly  Exegesis"  of  Luther's 
view  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
278 

Froben,  John,  the  printer,  135, 
142 

Frosch,  John,  237 

Froschauer,  Christopher,  the 
printer  of  Zurich,  160,  212, 
215,  258,  281 

Fuessli,  Beytraege,  236,  244 

Fuessli,  Johann,  154,  310 

Fueter,  Edward,  Der  Anteil 
der  Eids;enossenschaft  an  der 
Wakl  karls  V.,  Basel,  1899, 
127 

Fulda,  K.,  212 

Funk,  Ulrich,  312 

Furrer,  Konrad,  326 

Fiirstenburg,  Count  Wilhelm 
von,  319 


Gebweiler,  185,  194 
Geneva,  64,  269,  339,  362 
Germany,    177,    234,    23S,    299, 

324 

Germany,    North,    324  ;    South- 
ern, 296,  297,  324,  336,  361 

Geroldseck,     see     Hohengerold- 
seck 

Ghent,  339 

Gieseler,  J.  K.  L.,  Church  His- 
tory, 299 
3a 


Glareanus,  69,  78,  80-82,  92,  96, 
loi,  105,  121,  122,  160,  182, 
185,  193,  194,  211,  214,  215, 
220,  233,  234 

Glarus,  58,  61,  62,  64,  66-69, 
71-73,  80,  81,  87,  88,  90, 
91,  93,  96-98,  III,  113, 
115,  119,  120,  159,  197,  302, 
306 

God,  doctrine  of,  the  starting- 
point  of  Zwingli's  theology,  in 
distinction  to  Luther's,  which 
begins  with  anthropology,  370; 
God's  knowability,  370,  371  ; 
this  knowledge  comes  from 
nature,  so  to  the  heathen,  but 
fully  not  from  philosophy  but 
the  Bible,  and  is  mediated  by 
the  spirit  to  the  believer,  371  ; 
discussion  therefore  biblical, 
372;  "essence,"  372;  attri- 
butes, 372-375  ;  goodness, 
373  ;  benevolence  and  mercy, 
375 

Goldli,  George,  353-355 

Goldli,  Heinrich,  68 

Gotzinger,  Ernst,  Zwei  Kalen- 
der  von  Jahre  iJ2j,  Schaff- 
hausen,  1865,  292 

Goostow,  351 

Gospel,  defined,  386 

Gotha,  314,  337 

Grace  in  the  Sacraments,  467- 
470 

Granson,  90 

Grebel,  Conrad,  57,  122,  240, 
242,  245,  247,  252,  276 

Grebel,  Felix,  125 

Grebel,  Jacob,  252,  276 

Greek,  Zwingli's  study  of,  81 
sq. 

Gregory,  63 

Grisons,  the,   154,   267,   341-343 

Groningen,  351 

(Jrossmann,  see  Megander 

Grueningen,  province,  206 

Gryna-us,  258,  350 

(]ualther,  Rudolf,  360 

Guise,  324 

GynorL\;us,  Peter,  252 


498 


Index 


H 

Haessi,  Heinrich,  73 

Hagenau,  349 

Hall,  314 

Halle,  326 

Haller,  Berthold,  the  Reformer 
of  Bern,  born  at  Aldingen, 
Wiirtemberg,  1492  ;  became 
people's  priest  at  Bern,  1520  ; 
openly  joined  the  Reformers, 
1522  ;  died  in  Bern,  Switzer- 
land, February  25,  1536,  56, 
60,  64,  165,  170,  274,  281 

Haner,  John,  300 

Hassencamp,  F.  ^ .,  Francisctis 
Lambert  von  Avignon,  Elber- 
feld,  i860,  171 

Hebrew,  Zwingli's  study  of,  149, 
150 

Hedio,  Caspar,  born  at  Ett- 
lingen,  Baden,  1493  ;  studied 
theology  at  Freiburg  and  Ba- 
sel, became  preacher  in  the 
Strassburg  cathedral,  1523 ; 
active  in  introducing  the  Re- 
formation ;  died  there  October 
17,  1552,   108,   156,  215,  313, 

314.  318. 

Hell,  doctrine  of  an  eternal,  480, 
481 

Hegenwald,  Erhard,  192-194 

Heggentzi,  George,  153 

Heilbronn,  299 

Henry  VHI.,  divorce  from  Cath- 
erine of  Aragon,  varying  judg- 
ments upon,  by  the  Reformers, 

349,.  350 
Herminyard,  A.   L.,   Correspon- 

dance  lies   RJformateiirs  dans 

les  Pays  de  langue  Fran^aise, 

Paris,  2nd  ed.,  1878  sqq.,  92, 

269 
Herrstein,  312 
Hesiod,  135 
Hess,  236 
Hess,  Salomon,  Anna  Reinhard, 

2nd  ed.,  Zurich,  1820,  referred 

to,  231,  360 
Hesse,    Philip,    Landgrave    of, 


171,  214,  296,  299,  300,  306- 
314,  317-319,  322,  324,  325, 
327-329,  331,  332,  336-338 

Hesse-Nassau,  337 

Hetzer,  Ludwig,  203 

Heyerhansen,  185 

Hilary,  St.,  149 

Hinke,  Rev.  Prof.  William  J., 
69 

Hochrutiner,  Lawrence,  207 

Hofmann,  Conrad,  Canon,  160, 
168,  223,  236 

Hofmeister,  Sebastian,  204,  253- 

255 

Hohengeroldseck,  Theobold 
(Diebold)  von,  94,  95,  102, 
120,  201 

Hohenlandenberg,  Hugo  von, 
Bishop  of  Constance,  68,  106, 
no,  125,  161,  165,  168,  171, 
174,  181,  186,  189,  19O,  195, 
196,  203,  210,  226,  233 

Hohenlohe,  324 

Hohenstein,   174 

Holy  days  retained  in  Zurich, 
292 

Homer,  135 

Hongg,  206 

Horace,  135 

Hottinger,  J.  J.,  Helvetiscke 
Kirchengcschichte,  Zurich, 
1708-1738,  4  parts,  72 

Hottinger,  J.  H.,  Historia  eccles- 
ias,  Zurich,  1655-67,  9  vols., 
95,  126 

Hottinger,  J.  J.,  third  Life  of 
Zwingli,  Harrisburg,  Pa., 
1856,  305 

Hottinger-W  i  r  z,  Helvetiscke 
Kirchengeschichte,  Zurich, 
1808-1819,  5  vols.,  68 

Hubmaier,  Balthasar,  theologi- 
an of  the  Swiss  Baptists,  origi- 
nally Zwingli's  friend,  243, 
246,  247  ;  put  in  prison  for  his 
Baptist  views,  249  ;  forced  by 
torture  to  recant  before  the 
Council,  249  ;  tortured,  250  ; 
came  from  Waldshut,  252  ;  de- 
bate with,  253,  254;    alleged 


Index 


499 


Hubmaier,  Balthasar  fCoii- 
tiniied) 
recantation,  254 ;  denied  it, 
255  ;  punished  afresh,  re- 
canted his  recantation,  sent  out 
of  the  territory,  with  money 
from  the  Council,  255,  256 ; 
calumniated  Zwingli  at  Con- 
stance, 256  ;  another  tale  of 
trial  of,  276 

"[Hubmaier's],  Dr.  Balthasar, 
booklet  on  Baptism  honestly 
and  thoroughly  answered,"  248 

Hus,  John,  145 

Ilutten,  Ulrich  von,  213-220 


Images,  treatment  of,  202,  208, 
209,  478 

Imperial  election,  127,  128 

Indulgences,  59  ;  preaching  of,  in 
Switzerland,  106,  107,  124- 
127 

Infallibility,  388 

Infant  salvation  of  heathens  as 
well  as  Christians,  461-463 

Ingolstadt,  271 

Innocent  VIII.,  Pope  (1484- 
1492),  84 

Intercantonal  intercourse,  297 

"  Introduction  (A  short  Christ- 
ian) which  the  honourable 
Council  of  the  City  of  Zurich 
has  sent  to  the  pastors  and 
preachers  .  .  .  that  they 
in  unison  .  .  .  preach  the 
gospel  to  their  dependents" 
207,  369 

"  Isaiah,"  commentary  on,  2S9 

Isny,  337 

Israel,  August,  212 

Issna,  299 

Ittingen,  196 


Jacobs,   Rev.  Prof.   Dr.   H.   E., 
148,  332 


Jacobus,  316 

Jacoby,  Professor  Harold,  as- 
tronomer, Columbia  Univer- 
sity, New  York,  277 

Janssen,  Geschichte  dcs  Deut- 
schen  Volkes ;  An  meine 
Kritiker,  167 

Jena,  349 

Jerome,  St.,  79,  107,  122,  136 

Jerusalem,  74 

John,  63 

John,  Elector  of  Saxony,  see 
Saxony 

Jonas,  Justus,  born  at  Nordhau- 
sen,  June  5,  1493  ;  intimate 
friend  of  Luther's  ;  provoost 
of  Wittenberg,  1521-1541  ; 
died  at  Eisfeld,  October  9, 
1555.  314,  318 

Jorgen,  2S4 

Jud,  Leo,  born  at  Gemar,  El- 
sass,  14S2 ;  studied  at  Basel, 
became  people's  priest  at  Ein- 
siedeln,  1518  ;  of  St.  Peter's, 
Zurich,  1522  ;  died  there  June 
19,  1542,  60,  120,  194,  195, 
202,  206,  236,  243,  253-255, 
293,  335-339 

Julius  II.,  Pope  (1503-1513). 
104,  114 

Justification  by  faith  as  tlefined 
by  Luther  fitted  into  the  sys- 
tem of  theology,  365,  366 ; 
doctrine  held  as  clearly  by 
Zwingli,  367 

K 

Kaserruck,  mountain,  54 

Katzenellenbogen,  307 

Keller,  Anna,  284 

Keller,  Hans  Balthasar,  232 

Kempten,  299 

Kesselmann,  285 

Kessler,  Johannes,    Sabbata,   ed. 

Gotzinger,    St.      Gall,     1870, 

122,  294 
Keys,  doctrine  of  the,  387 
Keyser,  Jacob,  305 
Kilchberg,  93 


500 


Index 


Kilchmeier,  Jodocus,  169,  177 

Klingnan,  244 

Knaake,  j.  K.  F.,  ed.  Deutsche 
Theologie,  Weimar,    1883,  139 

Knonau,  twenty  miles  south- 
west of  Zurich,  232 

Kochersberg,  312 

Koenig,  Conrad,  publisher,  of 
Jena,  349 

Kolb,  Francis,  281,  283,  286 

Kostlin,  Julius,  Martin  Luther, 
Elberfeld,  1875,  2  vols.,  88 

Kussnacht,  on  the  west  bank  of 
the  lake  four  and  one  half 
milessouth-west  of  Zurich,  206, 
217,  219,  283 


La  Bicocca,  164 

"  Labyrinth,  The,"  70 

Lactantius's  De  Opijicium,  62 

Lambert,  Francis,  153,  170 

Landenberg,  see  Hohenlanden- 
berg 

Landolt,  Huldreich,  73 

Lausanne,  226,  280,  360 

Lavater,  Rudolph,  352,  354,  355 

Law  of  love,  387 

Leipzig,  140,  141,  143,  145.  274 

Lent,  163 

Leo  X.,  Pope  (1513-1521),  iii, 
125,  128,  151 

Lichtenberg,  312 

Lichtensteig  or  Liechtensteig,  57 

Liliis.  John  James  a,  63 

Limmat,  river,  117,  232,  252, 
255.  296 

Lindau,  280,  299,  332,   337,   338 

Liturgy,  discovery  as  to  lack  of 
uniformity  in,  88 

Livy,  79 

Lord's  Supper,  Zwingli's  theory 
suggested  by  Erasmus,  85,  201; 
discovery  in  regard  to  its  ob- 
servance, 87,  88 ;  supersedes 
the  mass  in  Zurich,  209  ;  ob- 
served according  to  primitive 
rites,  229  ;  theory  of,  discussed 


by  Zwingli  against  Erasmus, 
269;  Pirkheimer,  275;  Luther, 
276,  287-289  ;  Zwingli's  theory 
similar  to  Schwenckfeld's,  287; 
Lutherans  and  Roman  Catho- 
lics anxious  to  suppress  it,  300; 
the  failure  to  agree  to  the 
Lutheran  theory  the  reason 
why  the  Reformed  did  not  join 
the  Schmalkald  League,  333, 
339  ;  vain  efforts  to  make  a 
formula  in  which  all  Protest- 
ants could  unite,  334  ;  Butzer's 
and  Zwingli's  suggestions,  334, 
335  ;  the  Tetrapolitan,  338  ; 
Zwingli's  theory  not  long 
held  by  many,  361  ;  discussed, 
395  ;  its  nature  that  of  a  sym- 
bol, 395;  doctrine  of,  in  Zwin- 
gli's confession  of  the  true 
body  of  Christ  present  in  it  by 
the  contemplation  of  faith,  but 
in  other  sense  ubiquity  denied, 
470  sqq.;  patristic  witnesses  to 
theory,  476-478 

Loriti,  Heinrich,  same  as  Glar- 
eanus 

Loserth,  Wiclif  and  Hus,  Lon- 
don, 1884,  145 

Louvain,  139,  147,  188 

Liibeck,  337 

Lucerne,  see  Luzern 

Luchsinger,  66 

Lucian,   135 

Lucius,  141 

Lucius,  St.,  149 

Lukas,  Master,  95 

Lupulus,  see  Woelflin 

Luther, Martin,  born  at  Eisleben, 
November  10,  1483;  studied  at 
Erfurt;  became  an  Augustinian 
monk  there,  1505  ;  professor 
at  Wittenberg,  1508  ;  posted 
ninety-five  Theses  on  Indulg- 
ences for  university  disputa- 
tion, 1517  ;  thus  entered  on 
career  as  Reformer  ;  died  at 
Eisleben,  February  iS,  1546, 
50,  56,  59,  108,  129,  130,  139- 
143.   145.   147-149.    155,   156, 


Index 


501 


Luther,  Martin  ( Coittinueii ) 
171,  177,  I7Q,  18S.  197,  214. 
223,  227,  277-279,  2S7,  2S8, 
300,  307.  309,  313-317.  319- 
322,  324,  330,  336,  349,  357. 
389.  395-399  ;  'lis  theology  : 
justification  by  faith,  367  ; 
predestinatiou  aiul  hoiuiage 
of  the  will,  368;  has  an- 
thropological starting-point, 
370  ;  theology  pro]ier  less 
broad  than  Zwingli's,  380  ; 
sacramental  teaching,  391, 
392  ;  contrast  to  Zvvingli,  395- 

399 
"  Lutheran  "  epithet  repudiated, 

197 
Luzern,  143,  203,  271,  272,  275, 

300.  351 
Lyons,  170 

M 

Mad,  Marcus,  73 

Magdeburg,  337 

Magistrates,  civil,  representa- 
tives of  the  local  church,  388  ; 
doctrine  concerning,  in  Zwin- 
gli's Confession  of  Faith,  479, 
480 

Maienfeld,  247 

Maigret,     Lambert,     327,     328, 

345 
Mainz,  148,  152,  215 
Man,  Zwingli's  doctrine  of,  376, 

377  ;  agrees  with  Augustine's, 

but  with  marked  individuality 

of  conception,  376 
Mansfeld,  Gebhard  and  Albert, 

Counts  of,  337 
Mantz,  Caspar,  153 
Manz,  Felix,  240,  241,  247 
Marburg,  171,  307-309,  313,  316, 

319,  321,  324,  334,  360 
Marburg,  Colloquy  of,  proposed 

by   the   Landgrave   of    Hesse, 

307  ;    arrangements  for,   307  ; 

vain  endeavour  by  Zwingli  to 

have  the  place  changed,   308  ; 

Zwingli  definitely  promises  to 


come,  3'>9 ;  leaves  without 
permission  of  the  City  Coun- 
cil, 310  ;  his  journey  and  com- 
panions, 310-313  ;  disputants 
and  colloquy,  313-319;  Lu- 
ther refuses  to  take  the  Swiss 
as  brethren,  316,  317  ;  but  not 
as  friends,  318  ;  Z\\  ingli  claims 
the  victory,  319-322  ;  topics  in 
debate,  320-322,  395,  398 

Marckelssheim,  351 

Marignano.  76 

Marriage  and  divorce  ordinance 
in  Zurich,  267,  268 

Marriage  of  clergy,  195,  199 

Marriage  of  Zwingli,  231 

Mary,  Virginity  of,  see  Perpet- 
ual, 

Mass,  208  ;  abolished  in  Zurich, 
229 

Mauritius,  100 

Maximilian,  Emperor,  127 

Medeghino,  342 

Medici,  Giovanni-Giacomo  de', 
the  Tyrant  of  Musso,  342-344 

Megander,  Caspar,  born  at  Zu- 
rich, 1495  ;  studied  at  Basel, 
became  preacher  in  Zurich, 
accepted  the  Reformation,  be- 
came professor  of  theology  at 
Bern,  1528  ;  returned  to  Zu- 
rich, 1537  ;  became  dekan  of 
the  Great  Minster,  died  there 
August    18,     1545,    64,    253, 

255,  335 

Meili,  Johann,  50,  60,  94,  96 

Meinrad,  St.,  99,  100,  I02 

Meisenheim,  312,   313 

Melanchthon,  Philip,  born  at 
Bretten  in  Baden,  February 
16, 1497;  studied  at  Heidelberg 
and  Tubingen  ;  became  pro- 
fessor at  Wittenberg,  1518  ; 
died  there  April  19,  1560,  85, 
179,  212,  227,  300,  307,  314, 
316,  319,  320,  330,  350 

Memmingen,  280,  299,  332,  337, 
33S 

Mercenary  military  traffic,  90 

Merit,  doctrine  of,  365 


502 


Index 


Merle  d'  Aubigne,  History  of  the 
Reforjiiation,  ed.  Edinburgh, 
1853,  ii.,  132,  305 

Metellus  Macedonius,  Quintus 
Csecilius,  63 

Metz,  171 

Meyer,  Sebastian,  175 

Meyer  von  Knonau,  Agatha, 
232  ;  Margaretha,  232,  285 

Meyer  von  Knonau,  Gerold,  211, 
212,  232,  233 

Meyer  von  Knonau,  Hans,  231, 
232  ;  children  of,  236 

Milan,   71,   72,   76,   82,    88,  164 

Milan,  Francesco  Sforza  II., 
Duke  of,  342-346 

"  Mill,  The,"  poem,  154 

Ministers,  worthy,  479 

Mirandola,  84 

Mitloedi,  68 

Mollis,  87,  88 

Monks  and  nuns ;  monasteries 
and  nunneries  sources  of  op- 
position to  the  Reformation  ; 
treatment  of,  50,  53,  56,  60,  61, 
63,  146,  147,  170-173,  196, 
225,  295,  296 

Monza,  76 

Morat,  90 

Morbegno,  342 

Morikofer,  Johann  Caspar,  Ul- 
rich  Zwingli,  Leipzig,  1867— 
1869,  2  parts,  267,  311 

Moses  of  Winterthur,  226 

Mulhausen,  215-217,   228,    305, 

323 

Miiller,  George,  351,  352 

Munerian  law,  2S6,  287 

Miinzer,  Thomas,  241,  242 

Murer,  Anton,  73 

Murer,  Johann,  153 

Murer,  Melchior,  73 

Murner,  Thomas,  born  at  Strass- 
burg,  1475  ;  studied  at  Paris  ; 
entered  priesthood,  1494  ;  de- 
termined foe  to  the  Reform- 
ation ;  died  at  Oberehnheim, 
August  23,  1537,  275  _ 

Music,  Zwingli's  passion  for, 
56 ;    vocal  and  instrumental. 


banished     from     the     Zurich 

churches,  290 
Musso,  342-344  ;  see  Medici 
Musso  War,  341-344 ;    attitude 

of  the  Forest  Cantons  towards, 

343  . 

Myconius,  Friedrich,  born  at 
Lichtenfels,  Upper  Franconia, 
December  26,  1490;  prominent 
Lutheran  historian  ;  died  at 
Gotha,  April  7,  1546,  314 

Myconius,  Oswald,  Zwingli's 
friend  and  biographer,  born  at 
Luzern,  Switzerland,  1488  ; 
taught  there  and  at  Zurich, 
became  pastor  and  professor 
at  Basel  in  1532,  and  died 
there  October  14,  1552,  53, 
56-58,  64,  66,  82,  85,  89,  90, 
117-119,  122,  123,  130,  135, 
136,  141,  143,  145,  147,  153, 
156,  164,  168,  169,  214,  234, 
253.  254>  275.  293,  357 

N 

Nepos,  James,  142,  2It 
Nesen,  William,  214 
Netstall,  68 
New  York  City,  277 
Nodlingen,  299 
Novara,  72 

Nunneries,  see  Monks 
Nuchelen,  Jo.,  112 
Nuremberg,  176,  177,  l8S,  215. 
275,  299,  314,  346 


Oberbolingen,  99 

Oechsli,  274 

OEcolampadius  (Grjecised 
from  Heussgen,  same  as  Haus- 
schein),  Johannes,  born  at 
Weinsberg,  Wiirtemberg, 
1482  ;  studied  at  Heidelberg, 
Tubingen,  and  Stuttgart,  be- 
came jireacher  at  Basel,  1516  ; 
at  Augsburg,  1518  ;  monk  at 
Altenmunster ;   declared  him- 


Index 


503 


CEcolampadius  (Continued) 
self  for  the  Reformation,  went 
to  Basel,  1522,  where  he  was 
professor  of  theology, 
preacher  in  the  cathedral,  and 
Reformer,  and  where  he  died 
November  24,  1531,  179,  215, 
221,  237,  242,  248,  258,  269, 
272,  274,  275,  2S0,  307-309, 
313-315.  317-322,  324,  330, 
335,  34S-350 

Oetenbach,  225 

Organs  removed  from  the  Zurich 
churches,  290 

Origen,  121,  136 

Osiander,  Andreas,  314 

"  Ox  and  the  other  Beasts,"  70 


Panizzone,  343,  345 

Papal  Pension,  of  Zwingli,  72, 
114  sqq.;  of  other  clergy  re- 
nounced, 177 

Paris,  63,  147,    188 

Patristic  witnesses  to  denial  of 
the  doctrine  of  Christ's  ubiq- 
uity, 476-478 

Paul,  Martin,  342 

Paulinus,  A,  121 

Pavia,  72,  93,  137 

Peasant  troubles,  197,  228,  238 

Pellican,  Conrad,  born  at  Ruf- 
fach,  Elsass,  January  8,  1478  ; 
became  a  Cordelier  monk, 
1493  ;  professor  of  Hebrew  at 
Basel,  1522,  and  then  at  Zu- 
rich, 1526,  where  he  embraced 
the  Reformation,  and  died 
April  6,  1556,    60,  150 

Pensions,  pensionaries,  and  mer- 
cenary military  service,  123, 
136-139,  164 ;  forbidden  by 
Zurich,  175 

"  Perpetual  V'irginity  of  Mary 
the  Mother  of  Jesus  Christ  our 
Saviour,"  173 

"  Perspicuity  and  Certainty,  or 
Infallibility,  of  the  Word  of 
God,"  173 


Peter,  St.,  story  of,  51 
Peter  Lombard,  58,  63 
Petition  for  papal  dispensations 

of  privileges,  73-76 
"  Petition    to    allow   priests   to 

marry,"  166 
Petri,  Adam,  139,  141 
Pfaefers,  64,  65,  131,  216 
Pfaeffikon,  94,  96 
Pfefhngen  (same  as  Pfaeffikon), 

96 
Pforzheim,  149 
Philip,     Duke     of     Brunswick- 

Luneburg,       see      Brunswick- 

Luneburg 
Philip,  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  see 

Hesse 
Philip,  Marquis  of  Baden,  278 
Phrygia,  149 
Pico  della  Mirandola,  Giovanni, 

84,  85 
Pindar,  135,  270 
Pirkheimer,  237,  274 
Plague  in  Switzerland,  131,  360; 

in  Marburg,  319 
Plato,  loS,  135 
Pliny,  62 
Poitiers,  149 

Poor-relief  law  in  Zurich,  267 
Pope,  324,  326 
"Preacher,  Office  of  the,"  248, 

268 
Preaching,  true,  478,  479 
"  Protestants, "epithet  explained, 

"  Providence,  Divine,"  369 ; 
doctrine  of,  in  the  treatise  dis- 
cussed, 378  sqq.;  second  causes 
entirely  denied,  379  ;  God  in 
His  world,  379,  3S0  ;  divine 
causality  not  destructive  of  re- 
sponsibility, 380-382;  election, 
3S2 

Prugner,  Nicholas,  217 

Pucci,  Antonio,  92,  93,  in,  112, 
14S.  150 

Purgatory  repudiated,  480 

Putnam,  G.  H.,  Books  and  their 
Makers  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
N.  Y.,  1S97,  2  vols.,  149,  349 


504 


Index 


"  Questions  on  the  Sacrament  of 
Baptism  "  (by  Schwenckfeld), 
248,  264 

R 

Rapperswyl,  6g,  217 

Ravenna,  72 

Ravensburg,  176 

Reformation  :  doctrine  first 
preached  by  Zwingli,  108; 
in  morals  and  doctrine  de- 
clared necessary,  109,  no  ; 
prohibited,  165  ;  yet  spreads, 
174;  gradually  introduced  into 
Zurich,  200,  20I  ;  adherents 
of,  threatened  by  the  Diet, 
202  ;  completed  in  Zurich  by 
order  of  the  Council,  223,  224; 
determination  of  the  five  For- 
est Cantons  to  uproot  it,  300, 
301  ;  the  two  Cappel  wars, 
301,  345  ;  entrance  of  evangel- 
ical preaching  into  the  Forest 
Cantons'  territory  secured  by 
the  first  treaty  of  Cappel,  303; 
the  Reformation  a  protest 
against  the  Roman  doctrinal 
system  and  a  contribution  to 
theology,  365 

Reformatory  zeal  rebuked  when 
excessive,  405 

"  Refutation  of  the  tricks  of  the 
Catabaptists,"  248,  258,  261- 
264 

Regius,  see  Rhegius 

Reichenau,  99 

Reichenbach,  Alcide,  212 

Reinhard,  Anna,  Zwingli's  wife, 
231,  233-235,  360 

Reisigen,  342 

Religion  defined,  383 

Renaissance,  367 

Rennweg,  154,  310 

'*  Reply  to  Luther's  Confession 
on  the  Lord's  Supper,"  287- 
289 

Responsibility,  human,  dis- 
cussed, 3S0-3S2 


Reuchlin,  Johann,  born  at  Pforz- 
heim,  Baden,  February  22, 
1455  ;  eminent  as  a  humanist, 
and  long  unique  as  a  Hebrew 
scholar  ;  attacked  Ijy  the  Do- 
minicans as  a  heretic  but  ac- 
quitted by  the  Pope  ;  declined 
to  accept  the  Reformation ; 
died   at    Stuttgart,    June   30, 

1523,.  149 

Reuss  river,  352 

Reutlingen,  299,  337 

Rhsetia,  see  Orisons 

Rhegius  (Regius),  Urbanus,  bom 
at  Langenargen,  on  Lake 
Constance,  May,  14S9 ;  was 
crowned  poet  by  Emperor 
Maximilian,  ordained  priest. 
1519  ;  went  over  to  the  Re- 
formation, and  became  pastor 
at  Augsburg,  1520;  settled  in 
North  Germany,  1530;  intro- 
duced the  Reformation  into 
Celle,  Hanover,  where  he  died 
May  27,  1541,  125,  237,  2S9 

Rheinfels,  313 

Rhenanus  Beatus,  107,  128, 140, 
142,  150,  170 

Rhine,  313 

Rhine  Valley,  294 

Rigg,  J.  M.,  Giovanni  Pico  della 
Mirandola,  London,  i8go,  84 

"  Righteousness,  Divine  and 
Human,"  198 

Ringholz,  Odilo,  IVallfahrtsge- 
schichte  unserer  lieben  Frau 
von  Einsiedeln,  Freiburg  im 
Br.,  1896,  99,  103,  104 

Ritter,  Erasmus,  236 

Rocca  di  Musso,  342 

Roman  Church,  doctrine  of  in- 
fallibility, 388;  of  sacraments, 

391.  392 
Rome,  74,  79,  125,  126,  128,  149, 

182 
Rottenburg,  99 
Rotterdam,  78,  So,  220 
Roubli,  \Villiam,  195,  245 
Roust,    Dicthelm,    burgomaster 

of  Zurich,  2S1 


Index 


505 


Rousseau,  Jean  Jacques,  53 
Rovere,  Leonard  clela,  Cardinal, 

76 
Rubeis,  C,  76 
Rudlig,  Hans,  61 
Ruffet,   Louis,    J'ie   dc   Francis 

Lambert,  Paris,  1873,  17^ 
Rumlary,  Eberliard  von,  286 


"  Sacramcntarians,"  the  epithet 
applied  to  the  Zwinglians  by 
Lutherans  and  Roman  Catho- 
lics, 299 

Sacraments,  liturgy  of,  291  ;  doc- 
trine of,  3S9-395  ;  three  views 
rejected,  390  ;  Zwingli's  view: 
the  sacrament  is  a  dedication 
and  a  consecration  and  a  pub- 
lic setting  of  the  person  apart, 
390  ;  hence  has  no  power  to 
liberate  the  conscience,  390  ; 
nature  of  the  sacramental  ele- 
ments not  a  question  of  faith, 
over  against  Luther  and  Rome, 
391,  392;  doctrine  of,  in  Zwin- 
gli's Confession  of  Faith,  466- 
470 

Saenger,  Martin,  154 

St.  Gall,  61,  63,  203,  204,  231, 
242,  244,  256,  259,  260,  271, 
277,  278,  2S0,  283,  294,  299, 

305,  323,  341 
St.  Goar,  313 
St.  John's,  Old,  50,   60,  61,   63- 

65,  140 
St.  Katherinenthal,  295 
Sallust,  135 
Samson,    Bernhardin,    106,    107, 

124-126,  310 
Sander,  Cardinal,  118,  119,  140 
Savoy,  339,  348 
Saxony,   John,  Elector  of,  299, 

337,  338 
Schade,  Oscar,  Satiren  tind  Pas- 
quille  ans  der   Reformations- 
zt'it,  2nd  ed.,  Hanover,  1863, 
3  vols.,  155 


Schaff,  Philip,  Creeds  o/-  Christ- 
endom, 1S3,  338 

Schaff,  Piiilip,  History  of  the 
Christian  Church,  vol.  vii., 
121,  133,  305,  349 

Schaff liausen,  203,  204,  206,  236, 
242,  271,  274,   278,  280,  292, 

323 

Schappeler,  204 

Schenkenberg,  350 

Schinner,  Matthew,  born  at 
Mullibach,  Vaud,  Switzerland, 
1470  ;  became  bishop  of  Sit- 
ten,  1509  ;  cardinal,  151 1  ; 
died  in  Rome,  October  2, 
1522,  109,  no,  129,  131,  150 

Schlosser,  see  also  Keyser,  305 

Schmalkald,  see  Schmalkalden 

Schmalkald  League,  336 

Schmalkalden,  325,  336,  337, 
350 

Schmid,  Conrad,  283 

Schmidt  of  Kiissnacht,  217 

Schmidt,  Johan,  see  Faber 

Schnegg,  Hans,  217 

Scholastic  theology  rejected, 
58,  83,  87 

School  curriculum,  55 

Schuler,  J.  M.,  ZwinglVs  Bild- 
ungsgeschichte,  2nd  ed.,  Zur- 
ich, 1819,  68,  93,  122 

Schwenckfeld,  Hans  Caspar, 
248,   264,  287 

Schwyz,  canton  or  town,  120, 
164,    165,   272,   300-302,    305, 

349 
Scoloker,  Anthony,  212 
Scotland,  King  of,  358 
Scriptures    supreme    source     of 

truth  in  theology,  481-483 
Secerius,    printer,    of  Hagenau, 

349 
"  Selection  or  liberty  respecting 

foods  ;  on  offence  and  scandal ; 

whether  there  is  any  authority 

for  forbidding  meat  at  certain 

times,"  161 
Selnau,  225 
Seneca,  79,  135 
Senis,  Philippus  de,  76 


5o6 


Index 


Servetus;  Michael,  349 

"  Shepherd,  The,"  205,  226 

Sick  visited  by  designated  clergy, 
291 

Sickingen,  Franz  von,  215 

Sigwart,  C,  Ulrich  Zwingli  : 
der  Character  seiner  Theologie 
niit  besonderer  Rucksicht  auf 
Picus  von  Alirandttla,  Stutt- 
gart, 1855,  85,  285 

Sihl,  river,  310 

Silesia,  287 

Simler,  J.  J.,  Saiumlicng  alter 
und  neuer  Urkunden,  zur 
Beleuchtung  der  Kirchenge- 
schichte,  vornehmlich  des 
Schweizerlandes,  Zurich,  1757- 
1767,  2  vols.,  259,  339 

Sin,  doctrine  of,  377,  378,  3S3 

Sion,  same  as  Sitten 

Sitten,  or  Sion,  fifty  miles  south 
of  Bern,  109,  150 

"Sixty-seven  Articles,"  369 

Socrates,  79 

Solothurn,  or  Soleure,  the  Swiss 
canton,  203 

Som,  Conrad,  280 

Sophocles's  Lexicon,  258 

Speich,  Johann,  73 

Spires,  299,  300,  324,  337 

Staehelin,  Rudolf,  Htddreich 
Zwingli,  Basel,  1895-1897,  2 
vols.,  289,  311 

Staehelin,  Rudolf,  Brief e  aus  der 
Refor7}iationszeit,  Basel,  1887, 
referred  to,  237,  249 

Stein,  eleven  miles  east  of  Wild- 
haus,  61,  67,  294 

Stoker,  Melchior,  96 

StoU,  Huldreich,  67,  311 

Strassburg,  108,  129,  142,  171, 
235,  287,  296,  299,  307-309, 
311-314,  319.  325,  329-332, 
337-339.  342,  347,  349.  360, 
361 

Strauss,  D.  F.,  Ulrich  von 
Hutten,  Eng.  trans.,  London, 
1874,  213,  216 

Strauss,  Jacob,  2']b-2']% 

Strickler,  J,,  Actensammlung zur 


schweizerischen    Reformation, 

Basel,  187S-1884,  5  vols.,  194, 
196,  307,  311 

Stucki,  Johannes,  68 

Stumph,  Simon,  142 

Sturm,  Jacob,  312,  324,  330 

Stuttgart,  99 

"  Suggestion  (A)  of  the  advis- 
ability of  reflecting  upon  the 
proposal  made  by  Pope  Adrian 
to  the  princes  of  Germany  at 
Nuremberg,"  177 

Suidas,  82 

Sumptuary  laws,  287 

Surgant,  Johannes  Ulricas, 
Manuale  curatorttffi  predi- 
cattdi  prebens  modum,  Basel, 
1503,  88 

Surrey,  Earl  of,  358 

Switzerland,  234,  299,  324,  329, 
340,  345,  348,  349,  359-362 

Switzerland,  Northern,  296,  297, 
336 

Synod,  298 


Tallicon,  344 

Tetrapolitan  Creed,  338 

Theocritus,  135 

Theological  seminary  in  Zurich, 
293  ;  copied  in  Basel,  349 

Theology  proper,  see  God,  doc- 
trine of 

Thomann,  Rudolph,  245 

Thucydides,   135 

Thur,  67 

Thurgau,  canton,  206,  294 

Tithes,  156,  239  ;  their  payment 
by  the  peasants  ordered  by  the 
Zurich  City  Council,  239 

Toggenburg  Valley,  49,  121,226, 
237,  268 

Tremp,  Leonard,  64,  270,  281 

Trinckler,  Ulmann,  284 

Tschudi,  Huldreich,  73 

Tschudi,  J.  H.,  Chronicle  of 
Giants,  120 

Tschudi,  Judoc,  73 

Tschudi,  Peter,  326 


Index 


Tscluuli,  Valentine,  63,  93,  no, 

120 
Tuebingen,  58,  59,  185,  273 

U. 

Ubiquity   of  Christ's   body  dis- 
cussed by  Zwingli,  470  sqq. 
Ufnau,  island,  217,  219 
Ulm,   280,   299,   305,   325,    32S, 

337,  347 
Ulrich,    Duke    of    Wurtemberg, 

see  Wurtemberg 
University  curriculum,  58 
Untersee,  99 
Unterwalden,  272,  300 
Unterwalden,  Upper,  203 
Urdorf,  151 
Uri,  272,  300 
Ursinus  College,   Pennsylvania, 

Usteri,  Inida  Zwingli,  82,  151 
Utinger,  119 


Vadianus  (Joachim  von  Watt), 
the  Reformer  of  St.  Gall, 
Switzerland,  born  there  De- 
cember 30,  1484 ;  studied  at 
Vienna,  was  professor  of  Lat- 
in and  Greek  in  that  uni- 
versity, 1 5 10-15 18  ;  became 
physician  to  the  city  of  St. 
Gall,  1518  ;  introduced  the 
Reformation  there,  1524;  died 
there,  April  6,  1551,  62,  63, 
71,  91-94,  145.  177,  204,  205, 
220,  236,  242,  252,  272-274, 
277,  2S3,  323,  325,  340,  343 

Valerius.  Maximus,  89 

Valla,  214 

Valtellina,  342 

Venice,  Doge  of,  324-326 

Vergenhans,    see    Heyerhansen, 

185 
Verulam,  181 

Vienna,  56,  57,  63,  92,  93,  247 
Vincent,  John  Martin,  68 


Virgin  and  child,  wonder-work- 
ing figure  of,  in  Einsiedeln, 
103 

Vogelin,  S.,  Das  Alte  Ziirick, 
2nd  ed.,  Zurich,  1878,  2  vols., 
117,  121,  125,  252 

W 

Waldshut,  249,  252 
Walenstadt,  54 
Walenstadt,  Lake  of,  54 
Wallis,  280,  348 
Wanner,  Johann,  162 
Wattli,  Melchior,  161 
Weimar,  139,  140 
Weis,  Bernard,  236,  310 
Weissenburg,  299 
Wentz,  Johann  Heinrich,  92,  93 
Wesen,   scene  of  Zwingli's  first 
schooling,  54,  58,  60,  63,  68, 

94,.  96 
Wettingen,  296 
White,  H.,  305 
Widmer,  Johann,  153,  154 
Wildenhaus,  same  as  Wildhaus 
Wildhaus,    49,    54!    57,  61,   64, 

69,  361 
Will,  freedom  of,  denied,  383 
WMndsheim,  299 
Winkworth,  Miss  Susanna,  The- 

ologia     Germanica,      London, 

1854,  139 
Winterthur,  93,  113,  226 
Wirz,  Anton,  232 
Witikon,  or  Wytikon,  3  m.  s.  e. 

of  Zurich,  245 
Wittenberg,  139,   240,  148,    171, 

278,  314 
Wittenger,35i 
Woelflin     (Lupulus),    Heinrich, 

56,  124 
Wolfgang,  Prince  of  Anhalt,  see 

Anhalt 
Worms,  145 
Writings,  70,  71 
Wurtemberg,  176 
Wurtemberg,   Ulrich,  Duke  of, 

324,  326,  327 
Wyss,  Urban.  188 


5o8 


Index 


Wytikon,  see  Witikon 
Wyttenbach,    Thomas,    58,    59, 
182 

X 

Xylotectus,  see  Zimmerman 


Zasius,  142 

Zellar,  Stephen,  344 

Zeller-WeidmuUer,  H.,  353 

Zili,  Francis,  63 

Zilin,  Margareta,  73 

Zimmerman,   65,    166,    169,  215 

Zinck,  Francis,  65,96,  109,  115, 
116 

Zullicon,  245 

Zumicon,  five  miles  south  by  east 
of  Zurich,  about  three  miles 
east  of  the  lake,  246 

Zug,  272,  300,  351,  352,  357 

Zurich,  49,  58,  59,  64-66,  68, 
79,  82,  97-100,  109,  III,  114, 
115,  117,  118,  120,  122-124, 
131,   134,   136,    147,    150-156, 

159,  165,  168,  171,  172,  174, 
175,  177.  180,  185-187,  190, 
191,  196,  202,  203,  206,  207, 
212,  216,  217,  222,  224,  22S, 
231-233,  238,  239-249,  253, 
25S,  259,  265-267,  270,  271, 
273,  277-280,  287,  290,  293, 
294,  296,  302,  303,  305-30S, 
310,  313,  314,  319,  322,  323, 
326-330,  339,  341,  343,  345- 
347,  351,  352,  354,  356,  358- 
361 

Zurich,     Great     Minster,     117, 

160,  161,  195,  200,  202;  Min- 
ster of  Our  Lady,  117,  161  ; 
St.  Peter's,  117,  161,  196; 
Latin  School  of  the  Great 
Minster,  211 

Zurich,  Lake  of,  69,  94,  96,   98, 

99.  247 
Zurich   Little  or  Small  Council, 

passim 
Zurich    Monasteries    (Augastin- 


ian,    Dominican,   Franciscan), 

146 
Zurich   nunnery   of   Oetenbach, 

173-  195  ;  Selnau,  195 
Zweibriicken,  307 
Zweibrucken,  Ludwig,  Duke  of, 

312 
Zwingli  and  Luther  contrasted, 

395-399 
Zwingli,  Andrew  (brother),   61, 

64-67,  132,  145 
Zwingli,  Anna  (sister),  61,  64 
Zwingli,  Anna  (daughter),  361 
Zwingli,       Anna      (great-grand- 
daughter),   136 
Zwingli,    Bartholomew,   or   Bar- 
tholomaus  (uncle),   54-56,    58, 
60,  63 
Zwingli,  Bartholomew  (brother), 

61 
Zwingli,  Hans  (brother),  61 
Zwingli,  Heini  also  called  Hainy, 

or  Henry  (brother),  61 
Zwingli,    Huldreich  (father),  60 
Zwingli,    Huldreich,    or    Ulrich, 

(son),  284,  360,  361 
Zwingli,  Huldreich:  f  Chapter  I. 
Childhood  and  Youth,  1484— 
1J06.J  Date  and  place  of 
birth,  49 ;  self-proof  of  this 
date,  49 ;  family  conditions, 
50;  nearest  relatives,  50  ;  own 
remarks  upon  his  youth,  51 ;  his 
observations  of  nature,  51-53; 
scenery  about   his   birthplace, 

53  ;  trend  of  the  family,  53  ; 
his  uncle  his  first  teacher,  54, 

55  ;  importance  of  fact  of  his 
leaning  to  the  New  Learning, 

54  ;  his  first  schooling,  54,  55; 
goes  to  Buenzli's  school  (St. 
Theodore's  Church  school), 
Klein  Basel,  55  ;  the  curricu- 
lum, 55  ;  qualities  as  a  scholar, 

56  ;  goes  to  Lupulus's  school, 
Bern,  56  ;  musical  accomplish- 
ments, 56  ;  tempted  to  be- 
come a  Dominican  monk,  56  ; 
enters  Vienna  University,  56; 
enters  Basel   University,    57 ; 


Index 


509 


Zwingli,  Huldreich  (Continued ) 
becomes  teacher  in  St.  Mar- 
tin's Ciiurch  scliool,  Basel,  57  ; 
first  acquaintance  witli  theo- 
logy, takes  B.A.  and  M.A. 
degrees,  and  called  to  Glarus, 
58 ;  influenced  by  Thomas 
Wyttenbach,  58,  59 ;  univer- 
sity friends,  60  ;  Excursus  on 
Z'li'iitgli's  parents,  uncles, 
brothers,  and  sisters,  60-67  ; 
letters  of  Zwingli  to  Vadian, 
61,  62  ;  to  Alyconius,  64, 
65  ;  of  James  and  Andrew 
Zwingli  to  him,  62,  65,  66. 
(Chapter  //.  At  Glarus, 
1J06-1J16.J  IjOcation  of  Gla- 
rus, 68  ;  neighbouring  villages, 
68  ;  troubles  with  Goldli,  68  ; 
ordination,  68  ;  first  sermon 
and  first  mass,  69 ;  fate  of 
churches  early  associated  with 
Zwingli,  69  ;  sole  relic  of  him 
in  Glarus,  69  ;  earliest  of  his 
compositions  in  rhyme  and  in 
prose,  70,  71  ;  experiences  as 
chaplain  of  the  Glarean  con- 
tingent in  the  papal  army  in 
Italy,  71  ;  lasting  theological 
influence  of  these  journeys, 
72  ;  made  papal  agent  and 
a  papal  pensioner  as  reward 
of  zeal  in  papal  interests,  72  ; 
also  secures  favourable  answer 
to  petition  for  privileges,  72  ; 
the  petition,  73-76  ;  experi- 
ences in  Italy  in  1515,  76  ;  his 
character  while  in  Glarus,  his 
attainments,  and  library,  77 ; 
visited  Erasmus  at  Basel,  78  ; 
letters  to  and  from  Erasmus, 
78-81  ;  begins  study  of  Greek, 
81.  82  ;  emancipation  from 
the  traditional  theology,  83, 
84 ;  influence  of  Pico  della 
Mirandola,  84,  85  ;  Pico's 
heretical  theses,  84,  85  ;  in- 
debtedness to  Erasmus,  86, 
87  ;  discovery  at  Mollis  re- 
specting administration  of  the 


Lord's  Supper,  87,  88  ;  dis- 
covery of  variations  in  the 
service  books,  88  ;  life  at 
Glarus  as  student,  teacher, 
preacher,  89  ;  preparations  for 
preaching,  88,  89  ;  reputation 
as  a  preacher,  89  ;  opposition 
to  mercenary  traffic,  90 ;  prom- 
inence of  Glarus  in  such  busi- 
ness, 90  ;  forced  by  his  plain 
speaking  to  leave  Glarus,  91  ; 
Excursus  on  the  Zwingli  Cor- 
respondence in  General,  and  on 
that  of  the  Glarus  Period  in 
Particular,  91-93  ;  obscure 
episode  connected  with  his 
benefice  in  Basel,  92,  93  ; 
offered  a  house  and  farm  in 
Italy,  93,  (Chapter  III.  At 
Einsiedeln,  iji6-ij;tS.J  Re- 
moves to  Einsiedeln,  reason, 
94  ;  circumstances  of  the  call, 

94,  95  ;  text  of  the  contract, 

95,  96  ;  retains  pastorate  at 
Glarus,  96  ;  desire  of  con- 
gregation to  have  him  remain, 

96,  97  :  dismay  at  his  leaving, 
97  ;  his  affection  for  his  Glar- 
ean flock,  98  ;  location  and 
fame  of  Einsiedeln,  98  ;  story 
of  Meinrad,   its  founder,   99, 

100  ;  the  Angelic  Dedication 
of  the  chapel  in  his  memory, 
100,  lor  ;  criticism  of  the  le- 
gend, lor ;  place  of  pilgrimage, 

101  ;  condition  of  the  monas- 
tery and  of  its  governing  body 
at  the  Reformation,  102  ;  the 
chapel  of  Meinrad  with  its 
miraculous  image,  102,  103  ; 
the  celebration  of  the  Angelic 
Dedication,  104  ;  life  and 
studies  and  arrival  at  evan- 
gelical truth  at  Einsiedeln, 
105,  106  ;  preaches  against 
Samson,  the  indulgence  seller, 
106  ;  definition  of  indulgences, 
106  ;  writes  derisively  of  Sam- 
son, 107  ;  character  of  preach- 
ing at  Einsiedeln,  loS  ;  friends 


5IO 


Index 


Zwingli,  Huldreich  ("Continued) 
in  authority,  109  ;  conversa- 
tions with  prominent  visitors 
upon  the  evils  of  the  Church, 
109  ;  no  idea  of  separating 
from  her,  no;  receives  instruc- 
tion from  Bombasius  in  Greek, 
no  ;  appointed  papal  acolyte 
chaplain,  iir  ;  text  of  the  ap- 
pointment, III,  112;  consid- 
ered Einsiedeln  residence  only 
temporary,  113  ;  called  to 
Winterthur,  113  ;  but  forced 
to  decline  by  his  Glarus  su- 
periors, 113  ;  visited  Baden, 
1 14  ;  Excursus  on  the  Papal 
Pension,  I14-I16;  pension 
renounced,  115  ;  made  up 
by  cathedral  canonry,  116. 
(Chapter  IV.  Opening  Year 
in  Zurich,  i^iq.)  Myconius 
asks  Zwingli  if  he  would  fill 
the  vacancy  in  the  Zurich 
Great  Minster  of  the  people's 
priestship,  117  ;  parishes  in 
Zurich,  117  ;  Zwingli  consents 
to  be  a  candidate,  1 18  ;  jealous 
of  a  rival,  118  ;  outlines  his 
preaching  plans,  118  ;  objec- 
tions to  him,  119  ;  denial  of 
serious  charge  accepted  and 
election  follows,  119  ;  resigns 
at  Glarus  and  names  succes- 
sor there,  and  at  Einsiedeln, 
120;  his  manuscript  '' Paul- 
inus,"  121 ;  inducted  into  office 
at  Zurich,  and  announced 
preaching  plans,  122 ;  per- 
sonal appearance  and  orator- 
ical promise,  122  ;  Biblical 
books  expounded  in  early 
years,  123  ;  pulpit  themes, 
123,  124 ;  preaches  against 
Samson,  124 ;  the  episode, 
124-127  ;  Zwingli's  interest 
in  choice  of  an  emperor,  127  ; 
opinion  of  Charles  V.,  127  ; 
witnesses  papal  trickiness,  12S; 
has  the  printing  of  opponent's 
sermons  stopped,  129  ;  Luther 


first  comes  in  for  mention, 
129  ;  Zwingli  jealous  of 
Luther,  130  ;  in  personal  dan- 
ger, 130;  intimacy  with  Car- 
dinal Schinner,  131  ;  visits 
Pfaefers,  131  ;  hastily  returns 
to  do  his  duty  toward  plague- 
stricken  parishioners,  131  ; 
takes  the  plague,  131  ;  slowly 
recovers,  132  ;  his  verses  com- 
memorating the  experience, 
132-134  ;  mode  of  life,  134  ; 
classical  reading,  135  ;  re- 
sumes study  of  Hebrew,  135  ; 
gives  instruction  in  and  out  of 
his  house,  135  ;  Excursus  I. 
On  ZtuinglVs  Manuscript 
Paulinus,  135,  136 ;  //.  On 
Ziidnglis  Preaching  against 
the  Pensioners  and  Pensions 
(from  BuUinger),  136-139  ; 
///.  On  the  Allusions  to 
Luther  in  the  Zwingli  Corre- 
spondence of  i_5ig,  139-143. 
(Chapter  V.  Preparing  for 
the  Reformation,  1^30-1^21.) 
Revelations  of  his  corre- 
spondence of  the  period,  144  ; 
date  of  his  new  life  in  Christ, 
145  ;  reference  to  Hus,  "  On 
the  Church,"  and  to  Luther, 
145  ;  Luther's  friendly  cap- 
tivity surmised,  145  ;  Zwingli's 
visits  to  Basel  and  meeting 
Erasmus,  145  ;  growing  oppos- 
ition to  his  preaching,  146 ; 
numerous  supporters,  146 ; 
City  Council  order  for  pure 
preaching  of  the  Word,  147  ; 
hopes  and  fears  of  the  Gospel, 
147  ;  efforts  to  prevent  Lu- 
ther's excommunication,  148  ; 
anticipation  of  being  involved 
in  the  same  fate,  149  ;  again 
takes  up  Hebrew,  149  ;  rela- 
tions of  Pope  and  the  Swiss, 
150;  Zwingli's  and  Zurich's 
stand  against  the  mercenary 
traffic,  150  ;  study  of  Zwingli's 
"  Marginalia,"  151  ;  becomes 


Index 


511 


Zwingli,  ITuldreich  (Continued) 
canon  of  the  Great  Minster, 
151  ;  text  of  his  appointment, 
151-154;  publications,  152, 
153;  share  in  another,  154; 
"Advice  of  one  who  desires 
with  his  whole  heart  that  due 
consideration  be  paid  both  to 
the  dignity  of  the  pope  and  to 
the  peaceful  development  of 
the  Christian  religion,"  with 
appendix,  "  A  defence  of 
Martin  Luther  by  Christ  our 
Lord,  addressed  to  the  city  of 
Rome,"  155  ;  its  character  and 
authorship,  155  ;  first  step  in 
reform  :  declares  tithes  de- 
void of  divine  authority,  156; 
second  step  :  revision  of  the 
breviary,  157  ;  urges  investi- 
gation of  applicants  for  out- 
door relief,  157.  (Chapter 
VI.  The  Reformation  Begins, 
JJ22.J  Zwingli's  preparation 
to  be  a  reformer,  158-160 ; 
some  of  his  congregation  put 
in  practice  his  teaching  of  the 
allowability  of  eating  flesh  in 
Lent,  and  punished  in  conse- 
quence by  the  civil  authorities, 
160  ;  Zwingli  assumes  full  re- 
sponsibility, 161  ;  publishes 
his  sermon  "  Concerning 
Choice  and  Liberty  Respect- 
ing Food,"  161  ;  compromise 
measure  of  the  Council  con- 
cerning fasting,  calling  for 
obedience  till  the  fasts  were 
abolished,  and  that  the  peo- 
ple's priests  dissuade  the  peo- 
ple from  disobedience,  161  ; 
revolt  in  Zurich  reported  to 
Bishop  of  Constance,  who 
sends  a  commission  to  exam- 
ine into  the  matter,  161,  162  ; 
it  meets  the  clergy  and  the 
Councils,  162  ;  Zwingli's  ef- 
forts to  get  a  hearing  before 
the  Great  Council  successful, 
163  ;  makes  reply,  163,  164 ; 


Council  votes  to  reafTirm 
former  injunction  on  people's 
])riests  to  dissuade  the  people 
from  violating  the  fasting  or- 
dinance but  urges  definitive 
order  on  the  subject  from  the 
Bishop  of  Constance,  164  ;  let- 
ters from  the  Bishop  urging 
the  Zurich  clerics  and  laity  to 
suppress  heresy,  164  ;  Zwingli 
avails  himself  of  defeat  of 
Swiss  troops  to  prepare  "An 
earnest  exhortation  addressed 
to  the  Confederates  not  to  suf- 
fer themselves  to  come  into 
dishonour  through  the  wiles 
of  their  foes,"  164  ;  descrip- 
tion of  the  pamphlet,  165  ;  its 
ultimate  unfavourable  result, 
165  ;  Diet  at  Baden  prohibits 
preaching  of  Reformation  doc- 
trine, 165  ;  petitions  by  Zwin- 
gli and  others  to  the  Bishop 
of  Constance  and  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Confederacy 
for  permission  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  but  especially  to 
marry,  165,  166  ;  confession 
of  unchastity,  167  ;  efforts  to 
obtain  signatures  to  the  peti- 
tion, 16S,  169  ;  debate  with 
Francis  Lambert  on  the  In- 
tercession of  the  Saints,  170; 
an  easy  victory,  170  ;  Zwingli's 
account,  170 ;  Lambert's  ca- 
reer, 170,  171  ;  Zwingli's  strife 
with  the  monks  and  allusion 
to  the  petition,  17 1  ;  secular 
clergy  permitted  to  preach  in 
the  nunneries,  172  ;  none  al- 
lowed to  preach  anything  not 
in  the  Bible,  172  ;  Zwingli's 
Archeteles,  172  ;  Erasmus's 
characteristic  criticism  of  it, 
172,  173  ;  Zwingli's  two  ser- 
mons to  the  nuns  :  "  On  the 
Perspicuity  and  Certainty,  or 
Infallibility  of  the  Word  of 
God,"  and  "The  Perpetual 
Virginity  of  Mary  the  Mother 


512 


Index 


Zwingli,  Huldreich  (Continued) 
of  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour," 
173  ;  spreading  revolt  against 
the  Roman  Church,  174; 
Zwingli  preaches  at  the  An- 
gelic Dedication  in  Einsie- 
deln,  174  ;  Adrian  VI. 's  letter 
to  Zurich,  Zwingli  resigns 
his  people's  priestship  but 
continues  to  preach,  175  ; 
Zurich  Senate's  independent 
action  on  religious  affairs,  175; 
convents  taken  from  exclu- 
sive Dominican  control,  176  ; 
Zwingli's     literary     methods, 

176  ;  his  pamphlet  against 
Pope  Adrian's  proposals  to 
the  princes  of  Germany  at 
Nuremberg,  entitled:  "A 
suggestion,"  etc.,  177  ;  ru- 
moured   assault    on    Zwingli, 

177  ;  result  of  his  sermon 
against  clerical  pensions,  177  ; 
sympathy  in  Switzerland  for 
Luther's  positions,  177  ; 
Zwingli's  aid,  178 ;  growth 
of  the  reform  element  in 
Zurich,  178.  (Chapter  VII. 
The  Refortnation  Defended, 
^5-3-)  tEcolampadius  praises 
Zwingli,  and  they  become  in- 
timate correspondents,  179  ; 
correlative  position  to  Lu- 
ther and  Melanchthon,  179  ; 
Zwingli  announces  to  CEco- 
lampadius  the  coming  dispu- 
tation at  Zurich,  and  Faber's 
expected  presence,  179  ;  invi- 
tation by  the  Council  to  the 
same,  180 ;  letter  of  Adrian 
VL  to  Zwingli,  18 1  ;  CEco- 
lampadius  displeased  at  idea 
of  a  public  disputation,  feared 
it  might  end  as  a  dispute,  182; 
Zwingli  prepares  sixty-seven 
Theses  for  debate,  183  ; 
twenty-two  of  them  trans- 
lated, 183-185  ;  Gebweiler's 
uncomplimentary  remarks 
upon    the    disputation,    185  ; 


neither  Faber  nor  Eck  as 
fluent  in  German  as  in  Latin, 
185  ;  opening  of  the  disputa- 
tion, 185  ;  leaders  on  the  Old 
Church  side  present,  185  ; 
persons  from  Zurich  present, 
185,  186 ;  opening  speech  of 
the  Burgomaster,  186,  187 ; 
the  debate,  principally  be- 
tween Zwingli  and  Faber, 
187-1S9  ;  the  Bishop  of  Con- 
stance's "  imprisonment  of  a 
heretic"  discussed,  189  ;  Faber 
boasted  of  having  converted 
the  "heretic"  out  of  Scripture, 
but  refuses  to  give  the  texts 
used,  189 ;  Council's  formal 
approval  of  Zwingli's  doc- 
trine, 190,  191  ;  Zwingli's 
thanksgiving,  192  ;  further  de- 
bate between  him  and  Faber, 
192;  remarks  of  auditors  upon 
the  disputation,  192  ;  its 
printed  record,  192  ;  Faber's 
account,  and  young  Zurich- 
ers'  travesty,  192,  193  ;  Gla- 
reanus  congratulates  Zwin- 
gli, 193 ;  end  of  Gebweiler 
episode,  193,  194 ;  Faber 
complains  of  the  travesty  on 
his  account,  194  ;  boasts  of 
his  victory,  194  ;  result  com- 
ing to  Zwingli  from  the  dispu- 
tation, 194  ;  Leo  Jud  becomes 
preacher  in  the  Oetenbach 
nunnery,  194 ;  many  of  the 
nuns  leave,  some  marry,  195  ; 
Zwingli  urges  the  "  heretic  " 
imprisoned  by  the  Bishop  of 
Constance  to  stand  fast,  195  ; 
hanged  in  effigy  at  Luzern, 
195  ;  no  change  in  food  pro- 
hibition ordered  by  the  Coun- 
cil, 195  ;  the  first  clerical 
public  marriage,  195  ;  other 
such  marriages,  195,  196  ;  the 
Council  refused  to  accept  the 
Bishop  of  Constance's  letter 
upon  the  religious  troubles, 
196;    Zwingli's    "Exposition 


Index 


513 


Zwingli,  Huldreich  (Continued ) 
and  Proof  of  the  Conclusions 
or  Articles,"  196,  197 ;  \\\t 
tractate  against  the  Anabap- 
tists entitled  "  Divine  and 
Human  Righteousness,"  19S. 
(Chapter  VIII.  The  Re- 
formation Established,  iJ2j- 
JS2J.J  Up  to  1523  no  real 
change  in  the  religious  life  of 
the  people,  199 ;  first  break 
with  the  religious  past,  the 
use  of  German  in  baptism, 
200 ;  various  minor  reforms 
ordered  by  the  Council,  200  ; 
finding  use  of  vernacular  in 
baptism  popular  Zwingli  re- 
forms all  the  liturgy,  201  ;  yet 
for  a  time  retained  many  of 
the  Old  Church  ceremonies, 
201  ;  iconoclasts  appear,  and 
are  punished,  202  ,  Zwingli 
visits  them  in  prison  in  recog- 
nition of  their  righteous  but 
too  hasty  zeal,  202  ;  the  Coun- 
cil appoints  a  committee  to 
study  the  question  and  advise 
them, 202  ;  issues  call  for  a  dis- 
putation on  church  images  and 
the  mass,  203  ;  answers  of  the 
bishops  and  cantons  invited, 
203 ;  the  disputation  held, 
203,  204  ;  first  proposition 
relative  to  church  images  dis- 
cussed, result :  order  for  their 
removal,  204  ;  second  proposi- 
tion relative  to  the  mass,  no 
decision,  204,  205  ;  Zwingli 
refrains  from  exact  definition 
of  his  position,  204,  205  ;  low 
opinion  of  monks, 205  ;  sermon 
on  "  The  Shepherd,"  after- 
wards published,  205  ;  report 
on  the  plan  of  City  Council 
to  spread  the  reformed  ideas, 
205,  206 ;  befriends  one  of 
the  banished  iconoclasts,  207  ; 
"A  short  Christian  introduc- 
duction,"  207  ;  deliverance 
against  use  of  images,    espe- 

33 


cially  in  churches,  208  ;  and 
upon  the  mass,  208  ;  effect  of 
the  action  by  the  Council, 208, 
209  ;  divisions  in  the  chapter 
of  the  Great  Minister  led  to 
call  upon  Zwingli  for  an  opin- 
ion, 209  ;  the  Lord's  Supper 
first  administered  in  both 
kinds,  2og  ;  but  the  mass  still 
administered,  2og  ;  a  third 
disputation  on  the  subjects  of 
the  second,  209  ;  a  fourth  the 
next  year,  210.  (Chapter  IX. 
Ceroid  Meyer  von  Knonau, 
Ilutten,  and  Erasmus,  IS^J.J 
Ceroid  his  pupil,  211  ;  sends 
him  to  Basel,  211  ;  letter 
from,  211;  gives  as  bath- 
present  a  collection  of  "  pre- 
cepts," 212  ;  relations  between 
Zwingli  and  Erasmus,  213  ; 
Huften's  character  and  career, 
214  ;  relations  between  Eras- 
mus and  Ulrich  von  Hutten, 
214  ;  how  rupture  between 
Ilutten  and  Erasmus  oc- 
curred, 214 ;  Erasmus's  attack 
on  Hutten  and  all  who  aided 
Hutten  in  any  way,  214  ;  Hut- 
ten's  wanderings  after  leaving 
Basel,  215  ;  fled  to  Zurich  and 
befriended  by  Zwingli,  216 ; 
sent  him  first  to  Pfaefers,  216; 
then  to  Ufnau,  217  ;  Erasmus 
writes  against  Hutten  to 
Zurich  City  Council,  217  ;  and 
to  Zwingli,  217  ;  letter  to  lat- 
ter partly  quoted,  218,  219  ; 
Hutten's  second  attack  on 
Erasmus,  219  ;  death,  219 ; 
pecuniary  obligations  and 
property,  219  ;  Erasmus  dedi- 
cates his  reply  to  Hutten's 
first  attack  to  Zwingli,  220  ; 
but  it  was  followed  by  a  com- 
plete rupture  both  with  him 
and  Glareanus,  which  Zwingli 
deplored, 220, 221.  ( Chapter X. 
The  Reformation  in  Zurich 
Completed,    1^24.. J     How  the 


514 


Index 


Zwingli,  Huldreich  (Continued J 
religious  changes  were  brought 
about,  222  ;  what  made  Zwin- 
gli a  reformer,  223  ;  defence 
of  the  Old  Church  by  Canon 
Hofmann  before  the  Council, 
223  ;  the  latter  declares  it  un- 
successful on  the  basis  of 
Scripture,  and  orders  the 
canons  to  conform  or  leave 
the  city,  224  ;  gradual  changes, 
public  acquiescence,  224  ;  the 
abolition  of  the  convents  and 
monasteries  in  the  city,  225  ; 
to  what  uses  the  buildings 
were  put,  225  ;  how  the  rev- 
enues were  utilised,  225  ; 
Zwingli's  literary  work  of  the 
year  1524,  225-228  ;  "  The 
Shepherd,"  226  ;  remarks  on 
the  address  of  the  bishops  of 
Constance,  Basel,  and  Lau- 
sanne, 226 ;  earnest  plea  to 
the  Swiss  Diet  not  to  continue 
the  mercenary  traffic,  226 ; 
refutes  slander,  226  ;  congrat- 
ulates the  Toggenburgers 
upon  their  reception  of  the 
Reformation,  226;  Antibo- 
lon,  to  Jerome  Emser's  de- 
fence of  the  canon  of  the  mass 
against  Zwingli,  227  ;  epistle 
on  the  Lord's  Supper,  227  ; 
deliverance  on  questions  from 
Strassburg  friends,  227,  228  ; 
refutation  of  the  charge  that 
the  Reformation  necessarily 
caused  disorder,  228 ;  aboli- 
tion of  the  mass,  and  substi- 
tution of  a  scriptural  service, 
22g,  230  ;  this  eucharistic  ser- 
vice repeated,  230  ;  impression 
made  by  it,  230 ;  list  of 
Zwingli's  writings  on  the 
eucharist,  230.  (Chapter  XI. 
Public  Marriage  andLetters  of 
1^24.)  Zwingli's  public  mar- 
riage, 231  ;  his  bride,  231;  her 
ancestry,  231 ;  her  first  hus- 
band, 232;  his  marriage  leads  to 


disinheritance,  his  subsequent 
career,    232 ;    their    children, 

232  ;  Ceroid  Meyer  von  Kno- 
nau  adopted  by  his  grand- 
father, 232  ;  how  the  family 
were  distributed  at  Zwingli's 
coming  to  Zurich,  232  ;  enters 
into  a  clerical  marriage  with 
Anna  Reinhard,  widow  of 
Hans  Meyer  von  Knonau,  233; 
relations  the  talk  of  the  town, 

233  ;  way  Zwingli's  friends 
took  the  rumour,  234  ;  consid- 
ered Anna  Reinhard  his  wife, 
234 ;  frequency  of  clerical 
marriages  publicly  solemn- 
ised, 234  ;  why  Zwingli's  pub- 
lic marriage  may  have  been 
delayed,  235 ;  when  it  oc- 
curred, and  the  immediate 
pecuniary  troubles  about  the 
Knonau  children,  which  were 
amicably  settled,  235  ;  what 
Butzer  said  on  learning  the 
news  of  the  marriage,  235  sq.; 
character  of  the  Zwingli  corre- 
spondence of  1524  and  analysis 
of  it,  236  sq,;  character  of  the 
latter  part  of  the  correspon- 
dence in  general,  237.  (Chap- 
ter XII.  The  Inner  Course 
of  the  Zurich  Reformation, 
1323-1530.)  The  Baptist  and 
peasant  agitation  came  to 
Switzerland  from  Germany, 
238  ;  peasants  complain  to  the 
Zurich  City  Council,  239 ; 
Zwingli's  advice,  239  ;  public 
debate  ordered  on  tithes,  239; 
dissent  from  Zwingli's  opin- 
ion respecting  the  biblical 
authority  of  tithes,  239 ;  rise 
of  the  Baptist  party  in  Zurich 
among  the  radicals,  240  ;  their 
earliest  manifestation,  240; 
Zwingli  recognised  that  they 
carried  out  his  teachings  but 
condemned  their  precipitancy, 
240 ;  their  earliest  meetings 
attended  by  him    240  ;  char- 


Index 


515 


Zwingli,  Huldreich  (Continued) 
acter  of  Manz  and  Grebel,  who 
joined  them,  241  ;  later  place 
of  meeting,  number,  241  ;  the 
second  disputation,  upon 
images  and  the  mass,  241  ; 
the  radicals  first  find  voice 
then,  241  ;  Zwingli  opposes 
them,  242  ;  secret  conferences 
with  them,  242  ;  Munzer  and 
Carlstadt  influence  them  in 
the  direction  of  rejecting  in- 
fant baptism  as  unscriptural, 
242  ;  what  Zwingli  taught 
upon  it,  243  ;  public  disputa- 
tion with  the  Baptists  and  the 
Council's  order  upon  infant 
baptism,  243  ;  text  of  the  de- 
cision, 244  ;  private  meetings 
of  the  Baptists  forbidden,  and 
foreigners  among  them  ban- 
ished, 244  ;  they  meet  in  Zol- 
licon,  245  ;  adult  baptism,  by 
pouring,  instituted,  245  ;  ex- 
planation of  term  Anabaptist, 
245  ;  account  of  earliest  adult 
baptism,  245  sq.;  frequent 
debates  with  the  Baptists,  246; 
how  their  punishment  justi- 
fied, 246  ;  appearance  of  Bal- 
thasar  Hubmaier,  the  theo- 
logian of  the  Baptists,  246 ; 
treatment  and  fate  of  the 
Baptist  leaders,  247  ;  extracts 
from  Zwingli's  correspondence 
about  the  Baptists,  248  sqq.; 
list  of  his  books  against  them, 
24S  ;  his  story  of  the  persecu- 
tion of  Hubmaier,  249  sq.; 
his  reference  to  Appenzell  as 
a  hotbed  of  Baptists  and  his 
defence  of  it,  250  sq  ;  his  ac- 
count of  persecution  of  Bap- 
tist leaders,  252  ;  his  story  of 
Hubmaier's  treatment,  252- 
256  ;  analysis  of  Zwingli's 
first  book  on  Baptism,  256- 
258  ;  his  Latin  treatise  against 
the  Baptists,  25S  ;  explanation 
of  term  Catabaptist,  258  ;  no 


discussion  anywhere  of  the 
mode  of  baptism,  259  ;  dispu- 
tation on  the  treatment  of  the 
Baptists  in  1527,  259  ;  text  of 
edict  against  Baptists,  260 ; 
analysis  of  his  Latin  treatise, 
261-264  ;  story  of  George 
Blaurock's  treatment,  263 ; 
Zwingli's  reply  to  ques- 
tions of  Schwenckfeld,  264 ; 
suppression  of  the  Baptists, 
265.  (Chapter  XIII.  The 
Final  Stage  of  the  Zunnglian 
R  efo  r  m  ation,  i_§24-ij2g.J 
Characteristics  of  these  years, 

266  ;  his  appeal  to  the  Grisons 
on  behalf  of  the  Reformation, 

267  ;  poor  law  regulation  in 
Zurich,  267 ;  ordinance  on 
marriage  and  divorce,  268  ; 
Zwingli's  book  on  the 
preacher,  against  Baptist 
claim  to  be  all  prophets,  26S ; 
his  treatise  against  Erasmus 
on  the  eucharist,  269  ;  his 
"Commentary  on  the  True  and 
False  Religion,"  269  ;  Zwingli 
chosen  rector  of  the  Caroli- 
num,  the  school  of  the  Great 
Minster,  and  moved  to  his 
final  residence,  269  ;  edits 
Pindar,  270 ;  disputation  at 
Baden  between  Roman  Catho- 
lics and  Zwinglians,  270-275  ; 
steps  which  led  to  it,  corre- 
spondence between  Zwingli 
and  Eck,  271  ;  efforts  to  have 
place  other  than  Baden  chosen, 
271  sq.;  why  Zwingli  could 
not  go  to  Baden,  272  sq.;  Ba- 
den finally  adopted  and 
Zwingli  absent,  274  ;  his  re- 
presentatives  and  champions, 

274  ;  kept  informed  and  took 
active  part  by  correspondence, 
274 ;  acts  published,  275  ; 
Zwingli  replies  to  Pirkheimer, 

275  ;  Zwingli  tells  how  Eck 
won  reputation  for  Hebrew 
learning  at   Baden,    276  ;  his 


5i6 


Index 


Zwingli,  Iluldreich  (Continued ) 
references  to  Hubmaier  and 
Luther,  his  reference  to  per- 
sonal acquaintance  with  the 
stone,  276  ;  references  to 
Jacob  Grebel  and  Jacob 
Strauss,  276  sq.;  Zwingli's 
"  Friendly  Exegesis  "  against 
Luther  greatly  riles  Luther, 
277  sq.;  strained  relations  be- 
tween them,  279  ;  Zwingli 
afifirms  the  validity  of  Roman 
Catholic  baptism,  279  ;  dispu- 
tation at  Bern,  attended  by 
Zwingli,  280  ;  analysis  of  the 
Acts,  281-283  ;  the  Ten  The- 
ses of  the  disputation,  pre- 
pared by  Kolb  and  Haller, 
helped  by  Zwingli,  282,  2S3  ; 
the  sessions  of  the  disputation, 
283  ;  favourable  vote  of  the 
City  Council,  284  ;  Zwingli's 
son  Huldreich  born,  284 ; 
letter  to  his  wife  on  this  occa- 
sion,   284,    285  ;  his  sermons, 

285  ;  priest  converted  by  the 
first,   285  ;  return    to   Zurich, 

286  ;  denial  of  slanders,  286  ; 
the  first  Zurich  synod  with 
Zwingli  as  censor,  286 ;  the 
Munerarian  law,  i.  e.,  against 
extravagance,  286,  287 ; 
Zwingli  reprints  Schwenck- 
feld's  treatise  on  the  Lord's 
Supper,  calling  attention  to 
the  similarity  of  their 
theories,  287  ;  in  consequence 
Schwenckfeld  banished  from 
Silesia,  287  ;  Zwingli  pub- 
lishes his  reply  to  Luther  on 
the  Lord's  Supper,  and  his 
correspondence  relative  to  it, 
287-289 ;  announces  his  com- 
mentary on  Isaiah  in  the 
press,  289  ;  radical  changes 
in  the  church  services  in  Zu- 
rich,disuse  of  vocal  and  instru- 
mental music,  simple  order 
of  worship,  290 ;  ministerial 
dress, sacraments,  burials,  time 


of  service,  291  ;  what  saints' 
days  were  retained,  292  ;  abo- 
lition of  costly  paraphernalia, 
292  ;  Council's  order  on  sup- 
port of  the  clergy,  293  ;  the 
instruction  in  the  theologi- 
cal seminary  established  by 
Zwingli,  293  ;  the  synods  at 
Frauenfeld,  294  ;  rough  treat- 
ment of  monks  and  nuns, 
295,  296  ;  how  justified,  296  ; 
extent  of  Zwingli's  influence 
in  1529,  296  ;  mode  of  church 
government,  and  how  reli- 
gious matters  were  handled, 
297,  298.  (Chapter  XIV. 
The  First  Cappel  War  and 
the  Colloquy  of  Marburg, 
ij2g.J  Who  were  the  first 
"  Protestants,"  299  ;  anxiety 
to  suppress  Zwingli's  theory 
of  the  eucharist,  299,  300 ; 
the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  and 
Melanchthon  protest,  300 ; 
Zwingli  thanks  the  Land- 
grave, 300  ;  trouble  brewing 
between  the  Forest  Cantons 
and  the  Reformed  Cantons 
owing  to  the  former's  league 
between  themselves  and  with 
Austria,  300 ;  Zwingli  fav- 
oured armed  opposition  to  the 
Foresters'  intention  to  root  out 
the  Reformation  from  their 
borders,  301  ;  war  breaks  out, 
but  a  peace  is  at  once  pro- 
posed, 301-303  ;  Zwingli's 
ideas  upon  the  conditions  of  a 
lasting  peace,  303  ;  general 
opposition  to  pensioners,  303  ; 
absence  of  desire  to  fight,  and 
famine  among  the  Foresters 
makes  peace  easier  to  secure, 

303,  304 ;  discipline  in  the 
Zurich  camp,  304  ;  Zwingli's 
hymn,     304 ;     treaty    signed, 

304,  305  ;  its  contents,  305  ; 
Zwingli's  satisfaction,  306 ; 
his  chief  concern  for  the  free 
preaching  of  the  Reformation 


Index 


517 


Zwingli,  Huldreich  (Continued) 
in  the  Forest  Cantons,  306  ;  as 
this  demand  was  not  accepted 
by  the  Foresters  and  the  whole 
treaty  considered  humiliating 
the  peace  secured  by  the  treaty 
could  not  be  lasting,  306  ;  ne- 
gotiations for  a  colloquy  at 
^larburg  begun  by  the  Land- 
grave. 307  ;  Luther  and  Me- 
lanchthon  had  accepted,  307  ; 
plan    for    Zwingli's    journey, 

307  ;  CEcolampadius  to  come, 

308  ;  Zwingli  prefers  Strass- 
burg,  308  ;  apprehension  as  to 
safety  and  efforts  to  change 
place,  30S  ;  Zwingli's  friends 
cheer  him  up,  309  ;  journey 
decided  on,  309  ;  Zwingli  goes 
without  permission  of  the  City 
Council  and  does  not  tell  his 
wife  where,  310 ;  wrote  to 
Council  after  he  left,  advice 
as  to  delegate  from  Zurich, 
310;  subsequent  letters,  311- 
313  ;  journey  tracked  from 
point  to  point,  311-313  ;  size 
of  party  which  finally  arrived 
at  Marburg,  313  ;  who  were 
disputants,  314  ;  private  pre- 
liminary meetings,  314  ;  the 
public  debate  between  Luther 
and  Zwingli,  315  ;  its  chief 
topic,  316  ;  Luther  refused  to 
take  the  Swiss  for  brethren, 
316;  Melanchthon's  and  Lu- 
ther's statements  on  this  point, 
316,  317  ;  the  incident  of  Lu- 
ther's refusal  to  take  Zwin- 
gli's hand  as  told  by  Luther, 
317  ;  comments  on  the  result 
of  the  colloquy  by  CEcolam- 
padius and  Brenz,  317,  318; 
Jonas's  characterisations  of 
the  Zwinglian  disputants,  318; 
what  the  colloquy  really  ef- 
fected, 318  ;  outbreak  of  the 
pestilence  drove  the  reformers 
away,  319  ;  Zwingli's  safe  re- 
turn to  Zurich,  319  ;  his   ac- 


count of  the  colloquy,  319- 
322  ;  thanks  to  the  Landgrave, 
322.  (Chapter  XV.  Zwin- 
gli s  Political  Activity  in  His 
Closing  Years,  iS2(f-i53i-) 
Zwingli's  anxiety  to  extend 
the  alliance  with  Zurich 
against  all  opponents  of  the 
Reformation,  323  ;  he  finds 
allies  in  the  Landgrave  and 
the  Duke  of  Wtirtemberg, 
324  ;  has  hopes  of  bringing  in 
the  Protestant  princes  and 
cities  of  North  Germany,  also 
Venice  and  France,  324 ; 
writes  political  preface  to  his 
commentary  on  Isaiah,  325 ; 
his  political  activity  preju- 
dices Luther,  325  ;  the  Luth- 
eran princes  reject  the  alli- 
ance, 325  ;  so  do  Ulm  and 
Venice,  325,  326  ;  Collin's 
diplomatic  journey  to  the  lat- 
ter, 326  ;  negotiations  with 
France,  327  ;  alliance  with  the 
Landgrave  rejected  by  Bern, 
328,  329 ;  Strassburg  comes 
in,  329  ;  Diet  of  Augsburg 
opens,  329  ;  Zwingli  desires 
to  be  present  but  could  not  be 
sufficiently  protected  and  so 
did  not  go,  329,  330 ;  his 
friends  there  keep  him  in- 
formed, 330 ;  apply  con- 
temptuous epithets  to  the 
Lutherans,  330 ;  hatred  of 
Zwingli  rendered  it  unsafe  to 
be  known  as  his  friend  at 
Augsburg,  331  ;  Zwingli  pre- 
sents his  Confession  of  Faith, 
332 ;  Zwingli  on  the  way  to 
oppose  the  stratagems  of  the 
Roman  Catholics  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  divided  state 
of  the  Protestants,  333  ;  efforts 
of  Capito  and  Butzer  to  get  up 
a  compromise  on  the  eucha- 
rist  formula,  334 ;  Zwingli 
sends  the  Landgrave  his  ser- 
mon on   Providence,  334 ;    a 


5i8 


Index 


Zwingli,  Huldreich  (Continued) 
diet  of  the  evangelical  cities 
at  Basel  to  agree  upon  a  eu- 
charist  formula  proposed  by 
Butzer.but  opposed  by  Zwingli 
and  rejected,  335.  f Chapter 
XVI.  The  Last  Year  of 
ZwinglVs  Life,  iSJ^-J  Zwin- 
gli's  position  toward  the 
Schmalkald  League,  336-339  ; 
who  composed  it,  336,  337  ; 
Zwingli  refused  to  accept  the 
Tetrapolitan  statement  on  the 
eucharist,  338  ;  so  union  was 
not  effected,  339 ;  Zwingli 
publishes  his  commentary  on 
Jeremiah,  339  ;  replies  to  the 
letter  from  the  Brethren  of  the 
Common  Life,  339  ;  remarks 
on  the  Apocrypha,  340  ;  con- 
tinued interest  in  the  proposed 
alliance,  340  ;  war  again  brew- 
ing with  the  Forest  Cantons 
because  although  they  had 
paid  their  indemnity  they  had 
not  given  free  course  to  the 
Reformation  preaching,  and 
bitterly  complained  of  the 
treatment  they  had  received, 
especially  from  Zurich, 340  sq.; 
the  so-called  Musso  War,  and 
how  the  Protestant  Cantons 
were  involved  in  it,  341—344  ; 
Zwingli  advocated  a  new  con- 
federacy leaving  out  the 
Forest  Cantons,  or  their  over- 
whelming defeat,  345  ;  renews 
negotiations  with  France,  345; 
the  Protestant  Cantons  agree 
to  an  embargo  of  wheat,  salt, 
etc.,  on  the  Forest  Cantons, 
345  ;  Zwingli  opposes  it,  346  ; 
request  for  permission  to  lay 
down  his  office  refused  by  the 
City  Council,  346  ;  anxiety  of 
the  French  for  peace  among 
the  Swiss,  346,  347  ;  efforts  of 
the  delegates  of  the  cantons 
at  Bremgarten  to  the  same 
end,  347  sq.;  Zwingli  present 


secretly,  348  ;  foresees  trouble, 

348  ;  refutes  calumny,  348 ; 
embargo  begins  to  drive  the 
Forest  Cantons  to  extremities, 

349  ;  Zwingli  learns  of  Serve- 
tus's  book  on  the  Trinity,  349  ; 
also  of  a  theological  seminary 
at  Basel  like  that  in  Zurich, 
349  ;  consulted  as  to  the  di- 
vorce of  Henry  VIIL,  which 
he  opposed,  350  ;  hears  cheer- 
ingly  from  Farel,  350  ;  sup- 
posed portents,  earth  shedding 
blood,  uncommon  physical 
phenomena,  woman  bears  a 
monstrosity,  a  comet  appears 
at  Zurich,  all  these  believed  to 
foretell  disastrous  war,  350, 
351  ;  Zurich  Council  in  view 
of  the  inevitable  war  adopted 
a  plan  of  campaign,  352  ; 
Zwingli  presages  disaster  in  his 
sermons,  352  ;  war  breaks  out, 
353  ;  vanguard  leaves  Zurich, 

353  ;  main  body  with  Zwingli 
the  next  day,  353  ;  his  armour 
for  defence  not  offence,  353  ; 
horse  shied  when  he  mounted, 
which  was  a  bad  sign,  354  ; 
had  no  expectation  of  return- 
i'lg.  354 !  confusion  among 
the    advancing    main    forces, 

354  ;  the  vanguard  already  at- 
tacked when  it  came  up,  354  ; 
the  Foresters  well  led,  354  ; 
main  body  compelled  at  once, 
as  Zwingli  urged,  to  come  to 
the  aid  of  their  friends,  355  ; 
opposing  battle  cries,  355 ; 
Zwingli  exhorts  his  friends, 
356  ;  but  fight  quickly  goes 
against  them,  356 ;  Zwingli 
wounded  while  in  the  rear 
taking  no  part  in  the  fight, 
356  ;  is  urged  to  ask  for  a 
priest  or  to  pray  to  the  Mother 
of  God  and  the  Saints,  356  ; 
his  refusal  marks  him  as  a 
"heretic,"  356;  and  as  such 
he   was   run   through  with  a 


Index 


519 


Zwingli,  Iluldreich  (Continued) 
sword  and  killed,  357  ;  at  first 
unrecognised,  when  recog- 
nised his  body  was  treated 
with  contumely  as  that  of  the 
man  who  had  fomented  all 
the  trouble,  357  ;  exception  to 
the  words  of  cursing  uttered 
over  him,  358  ;  the  body  quar- 
tered by  the  hangman  the 
next  morning  and  burnt  as 
that  of  a  heretic,  35S  ;  the 
battle  of  Cappel  a  Flodden 
Field,  35S  ;  roll  of  the  emi- 
nent dead,  358  ;  small  loss  and 
great  gain  of  the  Foresters, 
359  ;  rest  on  the  field  and  de- 
feat the  allies, 35g  ;  the  Second 
Peace  of  Cappel,  359  ;  great 
contrast  to  the  First,  359  ; 
Zwingli's  widow  and  children 
taken  into  the  house  of  Bul- 
linger,  Zwingli's  successor, 
360 ;  their  after  history,  360 
sq.;  abuse  of  Zwingli  dead  by 
Lutherans  and  Roman  Catho- 
lics, 361  ;  his  loss  of  reputa- 
tion among  the  Reformers, 
because  of  the  rise  of  Calvin, 
362.  (Supplementary chapter.) 
Zwingli's  theology,  philoso- 
phy, and  ethics,  365  ;  theology 
in  general  like   that  of  other 


Reformers,  366  ;  the  philoso- 
phy underlying  it,  367 ;  its 
roots  Hebrew,  367,  368  ;  is 
Augustinian,  368,  369  ;  the 
doctrine  of  God  fundamental, 
370  ;  best  source  of  informa- 
tion concerning,  is  the  "Com- 
mentary on  True  and  False 
Religion,"  370;  this  work  ana- 
lysed, 370,  sqq.  ;  (see  index 
under  "  Commentary  "^  ;  the- 
ology misjudged  by  Luther, 
3S9  ;  his  doctrine  of  the  sacra- 
ments, 3S9-395  ;  contrast  as  a 
theologian  to  Luther,  395- 
399.  {See  also  separate  head- 
ings. Baptism,  Bible,  God, 
Lord's  Supper,  Man,  Sacra- 
ments, etc.,  in  this  index.) 
Zwingli  characterises  his  own 
life,  4S2,  483 

Zwingli,  James  (brother),  56, 
60-64,  67,  71,  93 

Zwingli,  Klaus,  or  Nicholas 
(brother),  61 

Zwingli,  Margaret         Meili 

(mother),   60 

Zwingli,   Regula  (daughter),  360 

Zwingli,  Wilhelm,  or  William 
(son),  2S4,  360 

Zwingli,  Wolfgang  (brother),  61 

Zymmermann,  169 

Zymmermann,  Wolfgang,  73 


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